Approaching Key West

Once you leave Sugarloaf Key, you're in the homestretch to Key West.  Despite Key West's popularizing the "Mile Marker 0" location, you actually enter Key West at MM 4m so you're now only 13 miles to Key West.  You'll cross 11 final bridges in those 13 miles as you hop from island to island.  The land here is low.  In her book "Key West & The Florida Keys", author June Keith calls it "a land that's mostly water, a sea that's mostly sky", and that's exactly what it is.  Thousands of mangrove islets dot the water and there is little development over the next several miles.

First up is the Harris Channel bridge (#32) at MM 16.4.  This will take you to the first of the Saddlebunch Keys.  The Saddlebunch Keys are not individually named, and most are not much above sea level.  Next up is the Lower Sugarloaf Channel at MM 15.4, which will take you over to the largest settlement in the Saddlebunch Keys.  The community of Baypoint - on the Ocean Side at MM 15 has about 500 people.  Right at the entrance to Baypoint is Baby's Coffee.  If you like specialty or just good coffee, stop in Baby's - they usually have a large variety of coffees for you to choose from, and all of them are very good.

Saddlebunch #2 bridge is next - look to the Gulf side here to see what the Saddlebunch Keys are about - there are literally dozens and dozens of islands out there, many of which are very tiny.  You can often see single mangrove trees growing out of the water.  Mangrove trees "make islands" - as they spread, their roots capture all sorts of detritus, silt and vegetation and create land.

The only other settlement in the Saddlebunch Keys is on the next island.  After the bridge, around MM 14.4 on the Ocean Side is the tiny community of Blue Water.  Saddlebunch Bridge #3 is next.  You'll notice that the old railroad bridges no longer exist down here - they were removed after the modern bridges were built.  The new bridges down here are now paralleled by narrow bridges that carry a bicycle path.  The islands themselves are devoid of anything except mangroves and the ever-present power line along the highway.

More of the same, crossing Saddlebunch #4, Saddlebunch #5 and Shark Key Channel to Shark Key.  The road runs along a fill on the south end of Shark Key where the railroad was.  The old road, after running along the southern edge of Sugarloaf Key, bypassed the smaller Saddlebunches and crossed over to Geiger Key.  Shark Key, Big Coppitt Key and Geiger Key are all connected by fill now.  After passing MM 11 you'll cross fill to Big Coppitt Key, and Boca Chica Road on your left will take you down to Geiger Key where you'll find a nice bar and restaurant at the marina.

Big Coppitt Key and the Rockland Keys are suburbs of Key West and home to many people that work in Key West or at the Naval Air Station on Boca Chica Key.  As such, they are very highly developed, in stark contrast to the last 5 miles.  Many services line the road here.  If you have a rental and are returning it in Key West, fill up here - you'll save a few dollars on a tank versus filling up in Key West.  You'll do even better on Summerland or Ramrod Keys.

At MM 9.5 you'll cross Rockland Channel to East Rockland Key.  East Rockland, Rockland and Boca Chica Key are all connected through fill.  The railroad ran through this area along the current highway, and the old road ran along Boca Chica Road, south of the Air Station.  The old road is still open most of the way across Boca Chica.  The highway opens up to four lanes here, and the entrance to/from the Naval Air Station is found at MM8 in the form of an actual interchange, the only one along the entire Overseas Highway.  Despite the proximity to Key West here, the entire island is mostly consumed by the Naval Air Station with little to see or do along the road.

At MM 6.3 the four-lane Boca Chica Channel bridge will take you to Stock Island.

Stock Island allegedly got it's name from the livestock that was housed here.  Being an island, no fences were nesessary.  The old road crossed from Boca Chica to Stock Island where Maloney Road is now.  It followed Maloney up to MacDonald, and paralelled the railroad from there to Key West.  Today, the bridge ends at MM 6 where you are actually briefly on railroad fill attached to the southern end of Raccoon Key.  Raccoon Key, to the north of the highway, is mostly the residential community of Key Haven.  The city of Key West is currently trying to figure out how to annex the community of Key Haven since there are many expensive homes there.

A small fill at MM 5.1 takes you to Stock Island proper.  Stock Island is divided north/south by the highway.  Everything north of the highway is within the city limits of Key West, while everything south is unincorporated Monroe County.  Stock Island was briefly an incorporated city of it's own in the 1960's, but that was short-lived.

The city of Key West has no interest in the southern half of Stock Island.  Perhaps this is because this half of the island is covered in trailer parks and lower-value housing.  There is also a higher crime rate here.  The northern half, however, is a base of services for Key West and Monroe County.  The northern half of the island is looped by College Road, which intersects the Highway at MM 5.1 and MM 4.2.  Heading around College Road counterclokwise from MM 5.1, you'll pass the entrance to the Key West Golf Club, which fills most of the inside of the College Road loop, then at the northern tip of the island, the Florida Keys Community College and the Memorial Hospital, next an Elementary School is on the right, followed by the landfill.  The landfill looks like a small mountain, thus it's nickname "Mount Trashmore".  The top of the landfill is the highest point in all of the Florida Keys.  Passing Mount Trashmore, the Monroe County Detention Center is next on the right, followed on the left by a series of Monroe County and City of Key West government buildings on the left, abutting the Golf Club behind them.  Back to the highway at MM 4.2, a right turn will take you to the island of Key West.

If you stayed on Route 1, the mile between MM 5 and MM 4 is littered with auto service stations, scooter rentals, and the ridiculously overpriced Bone Island Liquors, who apparently spend all of their inflated profit on tons of neon.  Primary intersections at Cross Street and MacDonald Avenue take you to the south end of Stock Island.

Two very good seafood restaurants are to be found on Stock Island.  The Hogfish Grill is popular with locals and has gotten lots of press lately, including several visits from Food Network celebrities.  The Rusty Anchor has gotten some not-as-good reviews lately, but had the best cracked conch steak I ever had, the last time I went there.  That was in 2007, though, so caveat emptor.

Sugarloaf Key

Crossing Bow Channel at MM 20 will take you to Sugarloaf Key.  Sugarloaf Key is a U-shaped island.  From MM 20 to MM 19, you're on Sugarloaf Key, then you'll cross a bridge to Park Key, another bridge to a small island, then a third bridge BACK to Sugarloaf around MM 17.

Crossing Bow Channel, the old road was to the right (headed south) of the railroad.  On Sugarloaf Key, the old road crossed the railroad and headed south.  You can make a left on this road today, but it will take you only to the KOA Kampground and shortly after that the road is gated off and you can not go any further.  The old road followed the east side of the island, curved to the west, then followed the southern shore of Sugarloaf all the way to its western edge.

Directly across the street from the turnoff to the old road is Mangrove Mama's.  Mangrove Mama's is another watering hole worth stopping at on your way down the road.  At night they have live music.

The map above shows the path of the current road and the old road (in red).  There was little population and no development on Sugarloaf until 1910 when the Chase family founded the Florida Keys Sponge Factory in the area of the present day Sugarloaf Lodge at MM 17.  A small town of around 50 people spring up and was named Chase.  A post office was built, and when the railroad opened in 1912, it included a stop at the town of Chase.  But the sponging business did not work out so well, and by 1920 the factory was bankrupt and the Chase family had sold their property to Richter Clyde Perky.

Perky was a tourism visionary, and his vision of Sugarloaf Key was not one of industry, but one of tourism.  Perky envisioned a luxurious hotel, casino and resort here.  In 1928, the road arrived and Perky had a road constructed from what remained of the town of Chase down to the road along the southern shore.  This road still exists as Sugarloaf Boulevard and passes through the highly-developed community of Sugarloaf Shores.  The town of Chase, the post office, and the railroad depot were all renamed "Perky".

The major obstacle to Perky's success were the ever-present hoardes of hungry mosquitoes.  As one resident of the time supposedly said "you could swing a pint cup and come up with a quart of mosquitoes."  Meanwhile, Perky had read of a Dr. Charles Campbell of Texas who had allegedly had success controlling mosquitoes by building towers to house bats, which, in turn, were supposed to devour the mosquitoes.  Perky baited the tower with a secret formula of bat-bait from Dr. Campbell, which was almost certainly nothing more than bat shit.  Nevertheless, the bats are not there, and there is no evidence that they ever were.  Perky ended up building a lodge anyway, but it burned along with most of the town of Perky in 1943.

The bat tower is one of the most peculiar sights in an already pretty peculiar area.  It is located very close to the main road and is only a short detour off the path.  To get there, make a right just past MM 17, past the modern-day Sugarloaf Lodge.  There is (as of 2011 at least) a sign at the turn-off for the Sugarloaf Airport advertising flight-seeing tours.  After turning off Route 1, stay to the left at the first fork, then stay to the right at the second fork.  You can not miss the bat tower dead ahead of you.

The Torches, Ramrod, Summerland and Cudjoe Keys

The Torches

Leaving Big Pine Key, you'll cross bridge #22 over North Pine Channel, a small railroad fill, then bridge #23 over South Pine Channel, and on to Little Torch Key.  The modern road at this point is on the railroad right of way - the original road a few miles north of here along No Name Key, Watson Road, over Bogey Channel, and across Big Pine Key on Watson Blvd.  The road would cross Pine Channel about a mile and a half north of here and onto Little Torch Key.  From there it turned south and joined back up with the railroad on Little Torch.

The Torch Keys are named for the torchwood tree that grows here.  The torchwood tree is named for its unusual property of burning even while wet and green.  There is little documented history of the Torch Keys.

Once on Little Torch Key, at the first intersection, just to the left, is the entrance to the Little Palm Island resort.  Nothing is here but the welcome center, the actual resort is on a palm-coverd island called Munson Island about two and a half miles south of here.  LIttle Palm Island is an ultra-exclusive secluded resort with rooms from many hundred to several thousand dollars per night.  Past the Little Palm Island welcome center is where most of the residential development of Little Torch Key is found.

Another quarter of a mile down the road is where the new road meets the old road at around MM 28.2.  If you turn right here on SR-4A, you can follow it up about a mile and a half and see the other side of where the old road came in from Big Pine Key.  The bridge is long gone, however.

Cross the Torch Key Viaduct at MM 28 to Middle Torch Key.  The portion of Middle Torch Key that the railroad and road crossed, and still crosses, is mostly fill attached to the southern end of Middle Torch Key.  There is one intersection on Middle Torch Key, and if you want to explore, turn right here onto Middle Torch Road.

The Keys are full of "roads to nowhere".  Some of these are remnants of the old road, with the best example being the southern edge of Sugarloaf Key.  Some were built to service particular facilities, like the road to Boot Key.  Some were built in anticipation of future development that ever quite got off the ground.  The best examples of these are on the northern ends of the Torch Keys, Cudjoe Key and Sugarloaf Key.  If you make the turn onto Middle Torch Road, the road winds nearly four miles north with about a dozen scattered homes on Middle Torch Key.  A little over two miles up, you can make a left turn onto Dorn Road to Big Torch Key.  This road has some small developments in the first two miles or so, then another five or six houses another mile down the road.  But it's not done.  The road winds another two and a half miles before petering out on Big Torch Key, with another one or two houses up there.  All told, nearly eight miles of road exist on Middle and Big Torch Keys with nearly nothing there.  An old map of Big Torch Key I have has the far north end platted out - 1st Ave, 2nd Ave, etc, but these plans never became reality and Big Torch Key remains a great big, mostly empty, island with a very long road to nowhere.

Ramrod Key

At MM 27.5, cross bridge #25 (Torch-Ramrod) to Ramrod Key.  Ramrod Key is named for a shipwreck that occurred on the reef a few miles offshore here.  The first intersection here on the left is West Indies Drive, where all the residential development on Ramrod Key is.  On the left hand side just past here, is where the Looe Key dive center is.  Looe Key is a few miles south of Ramrod Key and is one of the most popular spots to dive in the lower Keys.  There is a convenience store here and a gas station.  Just ahead on the right is one of the most popular bars and restaurants to stop on the way through the Keys.  Boondock's Grille has decent food and cold beer.  For some reason they have a miniature golf course here too.  You can't miss it, it's a wooden building on the right with a thatch roof.

Summerland Key

Head out of Ramrod Key at MM 26 over bridge #26 (Niles Channel) to Summerland Key.  Summerland Key is a highly residential island with little early history.  The island was unspoiled and undeveloped through the end of World War II, when Henry Hudgins bout the island from the Niles family and began development.  There is not much here for the traveler - some commercial development on the Ocean Side between MM 25 and MM 24 which consists of a few professional buildings, a couple of banks, some gas stations and a post office.  Closer to MM 24 are a few restaurants and the Mote Marine Laboratory.  The far western end is slightly less built up.

There is a private airstrip on Summerland Key and there are homes that butt right up to it that you can literally fly in and out of.  Summerland Key is also home to the Mile Marker 24 Band and was also the home of singer/songwriter Fred Neil, probably best known for his song "Everybody's Talkin'", most famously recorded by Harry Nilsson in 1968.

Leave Summerland Key at MM 23.6 and cross Kemp's Channel (bridge #27) to Cudjoe Key.

Cudjoe Key

Cudjoe Key is split north-south by the Overseas Highway.  To the south of the highway is almost exclsively residential, with a huge concentration of people and homes south of the highway between Kemp's Channel and MM 22.  There are many places in the Keys where street names are named after fish, and many more where they have pirate-themed names.  Here there are both.  Wahoo, Snapper, Bonito.  Jolly Roger, Doubloon, Galleon, and the "main" street, Spanish Main Drive.  Somewhere farther up the Keys, one of the pirate neighborhoods has a "Pieces of Eight Road", my favorite of the pirate roads.

At MM 22.6 on the south (Ocean) side, is the Square Grouper Bar and Grill.  I don't know much about the food (they keep strange hours here), but the Square Grouper has some great T-shirts.  "Square grouper" is a nickname for the bales of marijuana that Keys fishermen would occasionally fish out of the sea.  At one time there was so much marijuana coming into and out of the Keys that drug boats would simply toss their cargo overboard if in danger of being caught. 


Twin Fat Albert blimps on Cudjoe Key

At MM 21.5 on the north (Gulf) side is Blimp Road.  Blimp Road leads up to an Air Force facility that is a satellite of Joint Base Homestead.  This is the home of two blimps casually referred to as "Fat Albert".  One or the other Fat Albert is usually up in good weather keeping eyes and ears over the Florida Strait, watching and listening for illegal drugs and immigrants crossing the Strait from Cuba and the Caribbean into the Keys.  In addition, the blimps broadcast TV Marti to Havana, similar to the radio Marti broadcast from Boot Key.  The government of Cuba jams the transmission though, so it isn't received in Havana.  In 1991, one of the Fat Albert blimps broke off it's tether, drifted across Florida Bay and crashed in the Everglades, where it sat for months before they salvaged it.

At MM 21 is another residential development on the south (ocean) side.  At MM 20.3 you'll cross Bow Channel to Sugarloaf Key.