Knight's Key Dock, Pigeon Key and the Seven Mile Bridge

Just 40 days left until we head back to the Keys again!

One of the things that constantly amazes me about the Keys is how much has happened there over the last hundred years.  Thousands of people drive through the Keys every day blissfully unaware of the history surrounding them.  Towns that existed and vanished without a trace.  Roads and highways, railroads, hotels, all gone.  Yet at the same time much still exists if you know where to look.  Besides the obvious, like the old railroad bridges, there are still plenty of old roads, docks and remnants of towns and buildings. 

Knight's Key Dock is a perfect example of a huge development that has competely vanished without a trace and very few people even know it even existed.

When construction began on the Key West Extension of the FEC in 1905, it did not start in the north and simply continue until it reached Key West.  In fact, there were, at times, over 50 different construction sites going on at one time, with supplies and material being delivered to construction camps and depots all throughout the Keys.  Most of the construction through 1908 was focused on the northern half of the railroad due to the difficulty of moving equipment and supplies to the distant southern end of the island chain.  By 1908, the entire northern half of the railroad had been completed through Key Vaca to its southern terminus at Knight's Key.

In the meantime, knowing construction of the bridge between Knight's Key and Little Duck Key, a span of seven miles, would take some time to complete, Flagler began construction in 1906 of a deepwater dock in the channel southwest of Knight's Key.  This dock, about 4,000 feet offshore from Knight's Key, became known as Knight's Key Dock.  Upon its completion in 1908, along with the construction of the railroad trestle from Knight's Key out to the dock, it served as the southern terminus of the railroad from 1908 until the completion of the Seven Mile Bridge in 1912. 

The Knight's Key Dock was a formidable structure.  It consisted of a huge platform in nearly 30 feet of water with deepwater dockage on both sides.  Two tracks served the dock allowing the loading or unloading of two ships simultaneously.  From February 1908 to January 1912, the dock served the Florida East Coast Railway and the Peninsular and Occidental Steamship company, which provided steamship service to Key West and Havana.  Two departures and two arrivals daily to and from Miami served the dock.

Map of Knight's Key Dock showing the
approximate railroad location ca. 1908-1912

In addition, though, the dock also served as a base of construction for the initial portion of the Seven Mile Bridge from Knight's Key to Pigeon Key.  The Knight's Key Dock complex consisted not only of the docks and loading facilities, but there was also a construction hotel and at least two large warehouses, all built on wooden pilings 4000 feet out to sea.  Knight's Key Dock, alone, was an engineering marvel of its time.

Beginning in 1909, construction crews began building a series of concrete pilings, one after another in a seeming "marathon"of construction.  It took three years to build 335 concrete piers and the steel trusses between them five miles, across Moser Channel to within two miles of Little Duck Key.  The last two miles, over shallower water, were built with concrete arches like the Long Key viaduct to complete the Seven Mile Bridge.  During its construction, the bridge actually crossed over the trestle to Knight's Key Dock.  The section of the Seven Mile Bridge over the Knight's Key trestle was the last to be completed, just one day before the opening of the railroad to Key West, as train service to and from the dock would have been disrupted by the track crossover (see map).  However, on January 21, 1912, the final section of the Seven Mile Bridge was bolted over the Knight's Key Trestle, and train service began the very next day with Flagler's arrival in Key West.

No one is certain whatever became of Knight's Key Dock.  Once the Seven Mile Bridge was completed over the trestle, the dock became unusable, and rumor is it was burned to the waterline.  Remnants of the dock and trestle still exist at the bottom of the channel, but no visible trace remains of this busy little transportation hub of 1908-1912.

Pigeon Key

As you travel the Seven Mile Bridge, you'll see an island off to your right about two miles into the bridge (heading toward Key West).  The old Seven Mile Bridge travels right over it.  This is Pigeon Key, and following the arrival of the railroad during bridge construction, it served as yet another construction camp.  At one time over 200 workers were housed on the island in four dormitory-style houses.

Following the completion of the railroad, the construction camp on Pigeon Key was converted to a maintenance camp for bridge maintenance and for the tender of the swing span of the bridge over Moser channel.  This span could spin 90 degrees to allow boat traffic through Moser Channel.  At this time there were several homes and a General Store on the island.  There was even a school and a post office here in the mid-1920's.

Pigeon Key's next role was the base of operations for search and rescue missions following the Labor Day hurricane of 1935.  Following this, the island was part of the FEC holdings that the state acquired when the railroad went under.  The state promptly set about converting the railroad to a highway, and Pigeon Key also served as the headquarters of this operation.

Following the completion of the highway, Pigeon Key was the center of operation for the toll commission that collected tolls for the Overseas Highway.  This operation abruptly ended in scandal in 1954 when the toll takers were found spending tens of thousands of dollars on luxurious parties, food and a swimming pool on Pigeon Key.

The island sustained significant damage in 1960 from Hurricane Donna, and two buildings were completely destroyed.  The rest sat vacant for a while until the University of Miami leased the island from the state for a Marine Lab during the 70's and 80's.

In 1979, construction began on the new Seven Mile Bridge parallel and just to the south of the old bridge.  As the new bridge neared completion in 1981, the swing span of the old bridge was damaged in a traffic accident and the new bridge was accelerated to completion, opening in 1982.

Today, the buildings on Pigeon Key have been restored and it is now on the National Register of Historic Places.  The old bridge is open from Knight's Key to Pigeon Key, but you can not drive.  You can walk or ride a bicycle out to Pigeon Key.  You can also walk down below both the old and new bridges where you can see how the old bridge was built and converted.  The old bridge was only wide enough for one track.  When it was converted to a highway bridge, the rails were pulled up, cross bars laid across the trusses to widen them, then the road constructed on top of the trusses.  The original railroad rails were reused as guardrails.


Conversion of the Seven Mile Bridge from railroad to automotive traffic

Seven Mile Bridge Today

As you cross the Seven Mile Bridge today, be careful as it's still a relatively narrow (by today's standards) bridge.  The bridge runs from MM 47 to MM 40, and is the 16th of the 42 bridges on the Overseas Highway.  Around MM 45, you'll see Pigeon Key off to your right.  At MM 44, you'll see the opening in the old bridge where the swing span used to be.  If you've ever seen the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "True Lies", the climactic bridge scene was shot on the Seven Mile Bridge here, and a portion of the old Seven Mile Bridge was blown up in the movie.

Around Mile Marker 42, you'll see the old bridge change over from concrete piers to concrete arches.  This part of the bridge, between here and MM 40.5 is in serious disrepair.  Around MM 41.5, you'll notice a very large tree growing directly out of the old bridge - no clue how it grows in the concrete.  But perhaps an even bigger mystery is how this tree manages to get decorated every year at Christmas time, despite this section of the bridge being completely inaccessible due to sections of the old bridge being cut out.  The last half mile of the old bridge, from MM 40.5 to MM 40 is restored and is a fishing pier today. 



Henry Flagler and the Railroad

There are just 44 days until our next trip to Key West.  I've been working my way down through the Keys the past couple of weeks in my writing and I'm getting back into another part of the Keys that is among my favorites.  I am very much interested in the history of the Keys and the Florida East Coast Railroad.  By comparison to the Upper Keys and the Lower Keys, the Middle Keys are somewhat boring to me.  The history is not as rich, and from a traveler's perspective there is not as much to do or see as in the Upper Keys or Lower Keys.  To me, although I've vacationed in Marathon before, the Middle Keys have mostly been a place to either pass through or to set up camp as a matter of convenience.  Sort of like Henry Flagler did from 1908-1912.

Before we get into talking about this area though, let's talk a little bit about Henry Flagler.  Outside of Florida, Henry Flagler is not nearly as well-known as many of his contemporary industrialists and captains of industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Most people know the names - John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan.  Even Cornelius Vanderbilt and George Pullman probably enjoy more fame outside of Florida than Henry Flagler.

Flagler was born in upstate New York in 1830.  Despite never receiving higher than an 8th grade education, he worked a series of retail jobs and eventually used family assets to found a salt company in Michigan.  Flagler was the son of Elizabeth Morrison, who was the widow of a wealthy businessman named David Harkness from Ohio.  David Harkness had a son, Stephen, from his first marriage, which made Henry Flagler and Stephen Harkness stepbrothers.

After the failure of his salt venture in Michigan, Flagler moved to Bellevue, Ohio where he became a grain salesman.  Also selling grain in Bellevue was John D. Rockefeller, who befriended Flagler.  After the civil war, Rockefeller left the grain business, moved to Cleveland and started an oil refinery.  Needing some investment, he approached Flagler, who secured $100,000 from the Harkness family.  In return, the Harkness family appointed Flagler their representative in the new venture.  The new venture proved lucrative and soon became the Standard Oil company.  Standard Oil quickly became a monopoly and made Rockefeller, Flagler, Harkness and their partners among the richest men in history.

By 1876, Flagler's first wife. Mary, had become very ill and Flagler's doctor advised they move from New York and Ohio to a warmer climate.  Henry and Mary Flagler spent much of the next five years traveling back and forth to Jacksonville, Florida until Mary died in 1881.  Flagler wasted no time marrying Ida Alice Shourds, who had been his Mary's nurse toward the end of her life.  For a honeymoon, Flagler and Ida traveled to St. Augustine, where Flagler tried to buy the Zorayda Castle (then the Villa Zorayda hotel) for his new wife.  He was unsuccessful, but the Florida bug had bitten him and bitten him hard.

Three years later, in 1884, Flagler stepped down from operation of Standard Oil and returned to St. Augustine.  He made Franklin Smith, owner and builder of the Zorayda Castle, an offer to become his partner in a new hotel venture.  Smith couldn't raise the money, so Flagler ended up building it himself - the enormous (for its time) Ponce De Leon Hotel.  Despite the time period (1884-1888), the Ponce De Leon was wired for electricity - due, in no small part, to Flagler's personal friendship with Thomas Edison.  The hotel still stands today and is part of Flagler College.

Now entrenched in Florida, Flagler envisioned an American Riviera stretching down the Florida Coast, but was unhappy with the transportation system in the state.  With his enormous amount of money, he purchased a number of small railroads and consolidated them into the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC).  Thus began his march down the coast, building rails, bridges and hotels along the way.  By 1890, his railroad had arrived in Daytona Beach and he had begun construction of a personal residence in St. Augustine.  By 1894, he arrived in West Palm Beach, building the Royal Poinciana Hotel, and essentially founded Palm Beach by building the Breakers Hotel on the coast.

Flagler intended to stop in West Palm Beach in 1894, but that same year extreme cold in the area killed off the citrus crop and caused Flagler to rethink this decision.  Legend has it that Miss Julia Tuttle (she of causeway fame) sent Flagler some fresh citrus from an outpost on the Miami River in 1894, as proof that the cold did not extend that far.  She offered him land on which to build a hotel in exchange for bringing the railroad south to serve her fruit-trading business.

By 1896, Flagler had reached the shores of Biscayne Bay, and true to form, began construction of the Royal Palm hotel.  When the city incorporated in 1896, the original proposal was to name the city "Flagler", but Flagler would not hear anything of it, and it was he that suggested the city be named after the Indian word for the river that flowed through it.  Thus was born the city of Miami.

Around the same time, his wife Ida was institutionalized for mental illness.  Flagler had long been suspected of having an affair with Mary Kenan, and in 1901, Florida made mental illness grounds for divorce largely based on lobbying efforts from non other than Flagler himself and his connections with the Florida judicial circuit.  Flagler promptly divorced Ida, married Mary Kenan, and moved to Palm Beach in a mansion called "Whitehall" that he built as a wedding present to his new wife.

Flagler mostly stayed put for the next 4 years, but he had his eye even further southward.  The Spanish-American war saw much shipment of troops, material and supplies from Florida to Cuba, and the United States was also heavily involved in a plan to build a canal through Panama to open up trade from the east coast to the Pacific.  Seeing an opportunity to establish a deep water port close to Cuba and Panama, Flagler began planning for the extension of his railroad to Key West.  Many thought that Flagler had totally lost his marbles at this point, as the idea was thought impossible and downright crazy by most.  But when asked how he intended to build a railroad across 100 miles of open water, Flagler simply replied "Easy - first you build one concrete arch, then another, and another, and pretty soon you'll be in Key West."

Location of the FEC Railroad in Key West

Flagler did just that.  By 1905 he had engineers scouting routes through extreme south Florida -  considering routes through Jewfish Creek, Card Sound, and even an ambitious route to Cape Sable and across 25 miles of open water.  Eventually, the Jewfish Creek route was selected and construction began.  By 1908, the railroad had terminated in Knight's Key.  The plan was to complete construction by 1913, but construction was accelerated when Flagler's health started failing and was finally completed on January 21, 1912, and the first train rolled into Key West the very next day.  Frail and nearly blind, Flagler arrived in Key West on that first train in his luzurious personal car, the "Rambler".  There was much celebration in Key West with dignitaries and schoolchildren greeting the train's arrival.  Flagler is reported to have said "I can hear the children, but I cannot see them," and later, "Now I can die in peace."

Key West is largely what it is today thanks to Flagler.  Even the landscape of Key West was forever changed by the railroad.  As the railroad approached Key West, Flagler had grandiose plans for a very large rail terminal in the city.  When Flagler was advised that there simply was not enough land in Key West on which to build his expansive terminal, he replied, in typical Flagler fashion, "Well then BUILD some."  Today the Trumbo Point area exists because of the many tons of fill that Flagler's engineer's dumped there to build the land upon which his terminal was constructed. 

Marathon

46 days to Key West.

Compared to many of the other islands in the upper and middle Keys, the early history of Marathon is relatively boring.  The main business district of Marathon sits on Key Vaca, where you will arrive after crossing the Vaca Cut.  No one is entirely sure, but the most popular theory on the name Key Vaca comes from the Spanish vaca or vacas, meaning cow or cows.  There is no evidence of there ever having been cows here, so the general consensus is that this refers to manatees or "sea cows" common in the area.

There were several early attempts at settlement in the early 19th century, around the time Key West and Indian Key were settled, but by the mid-19th century all indications are that the settlers, from New England and the Bahamas, had abandoned the area.  It's quite possible that fear of Indian raids like those on Indian Key drove the settlers away.

Regardless, the island sat mostly empty until the railroad arrived in 1905.  The south end of Key Vaca, which was joined by fill to Knight's Key, was the start of seven miles of open water, so the railroad actually terminated at Knight's Key when it was completed here in 1908 and remained that way until the completion of the Seven Mile Bridge in 1912.  I'll write a whole separate article about the Seven Mile Bridge, the Knight's Key Dock, and Pigeon Key later, but the growth of Marathon really started when Knight's Key was the terminus of the railroad.

One of the reasons Flagler undertook the Overseas Railroad project was to provide deepwater rail access for shipping to and from Cuba and the Caribbean.  During the Spanish-American war, shipments of equipment, troops and supplies to Cuba came from Tampa, some 250 miles to the north.  Flagler envisioned Key West as the logical alternative to shipping from Tampa, and the intermediate goal was Knight's Key.  For four years, from 1908 to 1912, regular train service from New York, via Miami and Homestead, served Knight's Key.  At Knight's Key, passengers and freight could connect to the Peninsular & Occidental Steamship line (also owned and operated by Flagler) for connection to Key West and on to Havana.

As with everywhere else Flagler went, it was only a matter of time until hotels, resorts, a post office and other development sprung up.  It was during the railroad construction that the settlement obtained the name "Marathon" - most likely a reference to the backbreaking pace at which construction went.

The biggest era of change for Marathon was the World War II period.  It was during the war that the military brought fresh water (via pipeline) and electricity to the Keys.  Marathon also got a Coast Guard Yard and an Army Air Corps strip that is now the Marathon Airport.  With power and water, Marathon thrived in the 1950's and the satellite communities of Key Colony Beach and Marathon Shores also sprung up in this period.  Much of the 50's era construction was destroyed by Hurricane Donna in 1960, triggering another round of development.

Marathon Today

Today all of Key Vaca is the main business district of Marathon, with the key word being "business".  It's six miles of four-lane divided highway from the Vaca Cut to the Seven Mile bridge.  And nearly all of it is lined with motels, gas stations, fast food and other businesses.  If you're spending some time in the Keys, Marathon is centrally located.  But make no mistake, Marathon is no a tourist town.  It *is* where you will find McDonald's, IHOP, K-mart, Burger King, Publix and a LOT of red lights and slow-moving traffic.

There are a few things here to see if you've got a little time.  Just past MM 50 is the turnoff on the Ocean Side for Sombrero Beach.  Sombrero is the only sandy beach in Marathon.  There is a well-maintained park there with picnic tables and pavilions too.

While you can't go out there, there is a causeway at MM 48 to Boot Key.  Boot Key is a very large undeveloped island just south of Key Vaca.  It is mostly privately owned, but there is also a government transmission facility there from which the U.S. government broadcasts Radio Marti to Cuba.

On the Oceanside at Boot Key Harbor is Burdine's restaurant - cheap food and beer and arguably some of the best burgers and fries to be had anywhere in the Keys.  The Seven Mile Grill at MM 47.5 on the Bay Side has good food too.

As you approach the Seven Mile Bridge, there are two interesting things to see here.  On the left (Bay Side) at MM 47 is the visitor's center for Pigeon Key.  If you're staying in Marathon, you should venture out to Pigeon Key.  If you're just passing through though, you can still check out the visitor's center, located in a restored Florida East Coast Railroad car.

Old Seven Mile Bridge.  The new bridge is visible on the left

Just before you get to the bridge, on the right hand side, is a parking lot where you can pull off to walk or bike the old Seven Mile Bridge.  Even if you don't plan to spend any time on the old bridge, it's worth at least checking out.  There is also a pathway that goes down underneath the bridges that you can walk along, close to the water.  If you do walk out on the old Seven Mile Bridge, pay close attention to the metal guardrails on the old bridge.  The guardrails on the old bridge are the original rails from Flagler's railroad.  When the highway replaced the railroad, the tracks were torn up, the road constructed on top of the railroad bed, and the actual rails reused as guardrails on the automobile bridge.

Approaching Marathon

50 days to Key West!

Duck Key

Crossing bridge #13 (Tom's Harbor #3), you will end up on a piece of fill that was constructed during the railroad days.  Barely as wide as the road and about a half mile long, there is little on this fill.  About halfway down, you will see a small sign pointing down a side road on the Ocean Side for Duck Key.

The railroad bypassed Duck Key altogether.  It passed by on the fill just north of the island, but was not connected.  There is little history here - Duck Key had a salt pond operation in the 19th century, but was otherwise essentially ignored until the 1950's.

In the early 1950's, the island was purchased with the intention of making it a resort.  A causeway was built connecting it to the highway (where the sign is today).  Canals were dredged and fill was used to expand the island.  Construction began on Hawk's Cay Resort.  Between then and now, several hundred homes were constructed out there as well, known as Hawk's Cay Village.  You can drive out there if you'd like, but there's not much to do there.  It is a very beautiful community though, with well maintained roads, bridges and canals.

Continue straight on the fill, past Duck Key, and cross Tom's Harbor Bridge #4 (your 14th), to Grassy Key and the greater Marathon area.

The Marathon Area

Marathon is everything Key West is not.  Quiet. Unassuming.  A city of residents, not tourists.  To me, Marathon seems to suffer from an identity crisis, it doesn't know what it is or what it does.  Key Largo is all about diving.  Islamorada is all about fishing.  Key West is all about partying and night life.  But Marathon has no identity.

The Marathon area consists of a number of islands, once separate, but joined by fill during the railroad construction.  This part of the railroad was constructed between 1906 and 1908.  Grassy Key, Crawl Key, Long Point Key, Fat Deer Key and Crawl Key #2 eventually became one big island.  Likewise, Vaca Key, Hog Key and Knight's Key also became one.

Today, the City of Marathon stretches 13 miles from MM 60 at the northern end of Grassy Key to MM 47 on Knight's Key at the foot of the Seven Mile Bridge.  There are close to 10,000 year-round people there, an airport and a VERY long strip of hotels, motels, fast food restaurants, service stations and souvenir and T-shirt shops.

The story is that Marathon got it's name in 1908 when the railroad workers compared the long hours and toil of building the railroad to a marathon.  Before then, it was known only as Key Vaca and there was little early history in this area.  There were some early settlers and evidence of some shipbuilding operations in the early 19th century, but by the 1860's, the area was mostly abandoned until Flagler and his railroad-builders arrived in 1905 and 1906.

Grassy Key

Construction began here in 1905 and the railroad landed on Grassy Key in 1906.  There was a siding and a depot located here.  The large natural width of Grassy Key made it a good location for a construction camp and there were quarters built here along with a supply depot.  After regular train service started here in 1908, there was a small town on Grassy Key known as Crainlyn.  There was a hotel, a post office, and a few homes - but much of it burned around 1913 and Crainlyn essentially vanished.  The post office moved to Long Key.

For the next 15 years or so there was little development of interest in Grassy Key.  There was a flag stop on the railroad, which was completed all the way to Key West by 1912.  In 1928, the first Overseas Highway was built, but this area was bypassed by the 40-mile long ferry from Lower Matecumbe Key to No Name Key.  However, at the same time, construction began on a 11-mile long road from Grassy Key, through the city of Marathon, to Hog Key on the far end of Marathon.  Ferry landings were constructed on Grassy and Hog Keys.  By 1930, the 40 mile water gap was reduced to a 14 mile gap from Lower Matecumbe to Grassy Key and another 14 mile gap from Hog Key to No Name.  The Grassy Key ferry landing was at the end of what is now Dorsett Drive at the north end of Grassy Key. 

If you're a fan of dolphins, Grassy Key is the home of the Dolphin Research Center.  On the right hand side, right around MM 59 is a giant statue of a dolphin at the entrance.  Here is one of the places you can swim with dolphins.  The original dolphin ("Mitzi") that became Flipper on the TV show was caught at Grassy Key.  There USED to be a restaurant at MM 58 that was THE place to stop for a burger if you were passing through at lunch time, but the Grassy Key Dairy Bar is sadly no more.  There are a lot of RV parks, motels and other "resorts" in this area, but otherwise little else to see or do here if you're passing through.  The width of Grassy Key means you don't often see the sea, either.  Do pay attention to the mailboxes on the road around here, there are a lot of whimsical fish, dolphin and manatee mailboxes here.  Around MM 57, you will cross a railroad fill to the island of Crawl Key.

Crawl Key, Little Crawl Key and Long Point Key

Crawl Key is around MM 56.5.  There is a small motel with a private beach on the ocean side.  On the bay side are the remains of a turtle processing operation.  In fact, the name "Crawl" comes from the Dutch word Kraal, which was the word used for the "corrals" used to hold sea turtles prior to their being butchered and canned.  Around MM 56.1, there is a turnoff to the left for Little Crawl Key and a piece of fill leads you onward to Long Point.  Both of these islands are part of Curry Hammock State Park.  If you make the left onto Little Crawl Key, this is where the park headquarters are, including a campground and a beach.  The rest of the park, spread out on Crawl, Little Crawl, Long Point and Fat Deer Keys, is a very large stand of hardwood trees and thatch palms.  There is little development of any kind in this area.  This is all two lane road here with nothing but trees on both sides.  At MM 55.5 you'll cross another fill to Fat Deer Key with more of the same.

Fat Deer Key and Crawl Key #2

The first mile and a half of Fat Deer Key, from MM 55.5 to MM 54, is more of the same.  Hardwood hammock on both sides of the road.  A hammock is an area of hardwood growth in the middle of the mangrove swamps.  This area is the last undeveloped stretch between Key Largo and the Torch Keys and a good opportunity to see what the islands would have looked like before the days of the railroad.  At MM 54 is a turn off on the Ocean Side to Coco Plum.  This is a development of homes, most of which are extraordinarily big and expensive.  About a mile down from here is a stretch of unspoiled beach called Cocoplum beach.  If you want to see what a natural sandy beach looks like in the Keys, go to Cocoplum beach and check it out.  You never know what you might find washed ashore here!

Just past Coco Plum drive, you'll cross a fill to Crawl Key #2.  At the time of the railroad building, there were as many as ten keys all named Crawl Key number something-or-another.  Today, Crawl Key #2 is where the turnoff is for the Sadowski Causeway to the city of Key Colony Beach.  Sadowski was a real estate developer who purchased most of what was then called Shelter Key sometime in the 1950's.  He set about building roads and canals and dredging up fill to mae the island bigger.  Homes started going up.  Close to 1960, fearing absorption into the city of Marathon, which was not yet incorporated, the residents of Shelter Key petitioned and incorporated their own city of Key Colony Beach.  Key Colony Beach is completely bounded by Shelter Key, has its own post office, its own police force, a motel, a couple of parks and a few restaurants despite only having a population of a few hundred.

Continuing past Key Colony Beach, you'll finally cross water again at Vaca Cut (bridge #15, MM 53) and enter the main business area of Marathon, and Vaca Key.  Slow down here as the speed limit slows down, traffic gets congested, and there's lots of stop and go for the next six miles or so.

Long Key

Early historical charts show Long Key variously labeled as Viper Key or Rattlesnake Key, a name that is believed to have come from the island's rough shape like that of an open-mouthed snake head.  In 1845, the War Department took possession of the island with the intent to build a reservation on it, a plan that never came to be.  By 1880, parts of the island were being privately acquired and large stands of coconut trees were being planted here.  Coconuts were prized not so much for their fruit, but for their fibers which were used to make rope and also to seal the hulls of sailing ships to make them watertight.

By 1906, railroad workers had reached Long Key and construction of the viaduct from Long Key to Conch Key was underway.  In October of that year, a hurricane struck Long Key and swept away a barge housing 150 railroad construction workers.  Nearly half of them were lost as the barge broke up in deep water.  Shortly thereafter, the railroad set to building many quarters and other buildings on Long Key to house railroad workers and other construction activity.

By 1907, the train itself had arrived at Long Key and construction of the viaduct began in earnest.  The Long Key viaduct was the second longest bridge on the railroad, at just over two miles, and was Flagler's favorite.  Many of the bridges were utilitarian structures that were purpose-built.  The Long Key Viaduct was a sweeping structure of concrete arches.  The bridge still stands today, although traffic no longer uses it.


Train Crossing the Long Key Viaduct

When the viaduct was completed, construction moved on and many of the railroad buildings were used for the Long Key Fishing Camp.  The camp enjoyed enormous popularity from 1908-1909 onward, with guests coming from Miami on the train.  More buildings were constructed, including a 75 room hotel, a post office, a general store and many cottages.  In 1911, cowboy and writer Zane Grey vacationed at Long Key, and returned every year thereafter.  In 1917, the Camp officially organized as the Long Key Fishing Club with Zane Grey as its president.  Many notable Americans belonged, including presidents Hoover and Roosevelt.

Of course, we all know what happened in 1935.  The Labor Day hurricane destroyed the fish camp and along with it, the Long Key Fishing Club.  The island remained a ghost town until the mid-1940's when it was acquired by Del Layton.  Layton set about re-establishing first the fish camp, with cabins and a restaurant, then expanding it into the city of Layton, which incorporated in 1963.  Layton remains an incorporated city today.

Be careful driving in this area, as the speed limit drops in the incorporated town of Layton and doesn't rise again until you leave Long Key.  You will see a police car on the side of the road in Layton, but it is empty and has been here for at least 19 years.  I think it is an empty shell of a car they just repaint every year.  In any event, the real police are usually not far behind and it's very easy to get a ticket in Layton.

The central and southern side of Long Key is taken up by the Long Key State Park.  This is an EXCELLENT park to spend a day in if you are staying in the middle or upper keys. There are several nature trails that offer views of the mangroves and the things that live in them, and a canoe "trail" you can follow in the shallow waters of the lagoon with stops along the way to see the plant and animal life on the bottom.  Canoes are available for rental at the park.  Otherwise, there is little to see or do on the island as you pass through.

Leaving the island, you will cross the new Long Key Viaduct, the 12th bridge you'll cross in the Keys.  Just before you do, though, at around MM 65.5, there is an opportunity to pull off to the left (heading south) and walk out onto the old viaduct.  Unfortunately, without a boat it is difficult to get a good view of the majestic old arches of the original viaduct. 

After crossing the bridge, you'll be on Conch Key.  Conch Key was briefly a construction camp for the railroad.  At the time, the railroad skirted the southern edge and everything to your left as you head down, did not exist.  This land was dredged up and created sometime in the 1950's.  Today, Conch Key is home to about 100 residents, but little for the traveler to see or do.

Conch Key is connected by a filled causeway to the next island, Little Conch Key - also known as Walker's Island.  Little Conch Key was public land until 1946 when it was sold to the Walker family who built a home and several rental cottages here.  By 1960 a causeway connected it to the highway.  Today, about eight private homes are down the causeway on Walker's Island.

Leaving the Conch Keys, cross your 13th bridge at MM 61.5 - Tom's Harbor Bridge #3 (no, I don't know what happened to bridges #1 and #2 any more than I know what happened to channels 1, 3 and 4) on to Duck Key, as you approach the extremely built-up area of Marathon.

Craig and Fiesta Keys

54 days to go.  It's been 10 days since I wrote in here, sorry about that, I've been traveling and sort of busy!

So where were we?  Right, we had just left Anne's Beach on Lower Matecumbe Key and crossed the Channel #2 bridge just past MM 73 (bridge #10).  When Henry Flagler was constructing the Overseas Railroad in this area, he encountered the second longest stretch of open water that needed to be bridged - nearly four miles from the tip of Lower Matecumbe to Long Key.  The water in this area, though, is mostly shallow, and Flagler set out doing what he did best after building railroads - building land.  About halfway between Lower Matecumbe and Long Key and just south of the straight line route between them is a shallow flat that Flagler immediately set to filling.  This area is today just south of MM 72 and is the southwestern half of what is now one big island called Craig Key.  The two bayside island appendages prior to MM 72 did not come until much later.  Craig Key was unique at the time as the railroad was double-tracked at this point and even three-wide in one place.  This created a wider-than-normal fill, which left a lot of land (relatively) to be built on after the hurricane destroyed the railroad.  The waters on either side of Craig Key remained open as they were deepwater channels difficult to fill.  These are Channel #2 and Channel #5.  No one seems to know what happened to Channels 1, 3 and 4.

Following the opening of the railroad in 1912, Craig Key was the location of maintenance and construction facilities to maintain and support the railroad.  A deepwater dock was constructed and likely a small fishing camp.  By the 1920's, Craig Key became a popular location for fishing charters out of Miami complete with a train station and the aforementioned dock.  In the early 1930's, after the completion of the railroad and before its destruction, much of the island was leased from the railroad by a Captain R. W. Craig - a lease that was honored by the state highway department after the hurricane destroyed the railroad and the island reverted to the highway department when it acquired the railroad right-of-way.  By the mid-1930's, the island sported a hotel, a post office and a small town with a population between 20 and 30.  Still populated in the 1950's, the two additional islands north of the fill were constructed and joined to the main fill.

Today, nearly all of the original settlement at Craig has been destroyed by the expansion and widening of the highway.  A few houses remain on the two small islands constructed in the 1950's, but little else exists there now.

Leaving Craig Key, cross Channel #5 (bridge #11, MM 71) to the fill leading to Fiesta Key.  The Channel #5 bridge is a spectacularly high span, nearly a mile long, that will provide you sweeping vistas in every direction.  If you did not already feel like you were driving across the sea, it's around here that you probably will.

From here, you'll enter a contiguous piece of land from Fiesta Key to Long Key.  Originally, the railroad completely bypassed Fiesta Key (then known as Jewfish Key and later Jewfish Bush Key), running just to its south.  The first Overseas Highway, opened in 1928, crossed this section of the Keys on the ferry from Lower Matecumbe to No Name Key.  With the railroad to the south, and the ferry to the north, little happened on Jewfish Key.  When the Bonus Army arrived in the Keys to construct the roadway from Lower Matecumbe Key to begin replacing the ferry, work began on a road from Lower Matecumbe to Long Key, starting with a bridge from Lower Matecumbe to Jewfish Key.  This is the bridge of which nothing remains but eight concrete pilings and a small fill off of MM 73.

With the destruction of the railroad, this project was abandoned and the railroad right-of-way repurposed for the road.  As more and more fill was dredged up and more and more land constructed, Jewfish Key eventually became connected to the roadway.  By the mid-1940's, bus service had been established to Key West by Florida Motor Lines, later acquired by Greyhound.  Fans of Humphrey Bogart will recognize Florida Motor Lines as the bus ridden by Major Frank McCloud at the beginning of the 1948 Bogart/Bacall film "Key Largo".

Greyhound set about building a rest stop and restaurant on Jewfish Bush Key.  This was an enormously popular stop for a while with dozens of busses a day carrying military personnel back and forth to Key West.  By the early 1950's, a post office was constructed and the island rechristened "Greyhound Key".  By 1966, bus traffic had fallen off and Greyhound sold the island to KOA Kampgrounds of America who once again renamed the island, this time to Fiesta Key.  The island remained a KOA until it was sold in 2006 to a developer of luxury vacation homes.  The KOA closed in 2007, but the luxury homes never materialized and the property changed hands several times since.  It's currently a sad and run-down RV park.  Avoid the turnoff here and continue on to Long Key.

Lower Matecumbe Key

64 days to Key West!

Once you cross Lignumvitae Channel, you will land on Lower Matecumbe Key.  Lower Matecumbe Key is one of my favorite islands en route to Key West.  The history of the island is very long - the northern end had one of the only sources of fresh water for miles in every direction.  As such, it was a popular stop off for everyone from Indians to pirates to wreckers.

The railroad arrived here in late 1909 and really marked the last of the "easily" accessible islands from the mainland.  It was here that the serious bridge-building began.  By 1928, the first Overseas Highway had reached Lower Matecumbe Key and was to go no farther.  While Henry Flagler was busily bridging Channels #2 and #5, filling in the gaps between the Craig Keys and pushing on to Long Key, the road came to an abrupt end at the south end of Lower Matecumbe Key.  There, vehicles were loaded onto ferries that departed twice a day for No Name Key, 37 miles to the west.  The trip took several hours and was unreliable, oftentimes getting stuck in the shallow flats until the tides brought in enough water to free them.

The current alignment of Route 1 is on top of the original railroad right-of-way, but Lower Matecumbe is one of the best places to see the original roadway.  The old road parallels the new road here, just a few feet to the north (on the right headed toward Key West) where it ends at Matecumbe Harbor.  Here is where the ferry landing was from 1928-1935.  The ferry landing is no longer there, but remnants of the other landing still exist on No Name Key at the end of the road (more on that later).

Old Road construction c. 1935

In 1932, 45,000 World War I veterans marched on Washington, DC to demand payment of the "bonus" promised them for their service in World War I.  The bonus was to be payable, with interest, in 1945, but many demanded early payment, living in squalor during the Great Depression.  At the time, President Hoover turned them away, using force where necessary.  Not to be deterred, the veterans tried again in 1933.  This time, President Roosevelt once again denied early payout, but DID offer many of them employment in New Deal projects, including the construction of the Overseas Highway in the Keys.

Tarpon at Robbie's Marina

One of the first projects was to be the elimination of the ferry route from Lower Matecumbe by constructing bridges from Matecumbe Harbor to Long Key, then on to Key Vaca.  This was one of the projects the "bonus army" was working on when the Labor Day Hurricane destroyed the railroad and took several hundred of their lives with it.  Today, there is little evidence of their work.  However, if you look to the right just as you leave Lower Matecumbe Key to cross Channel #2, you can see the remains of the bridge they had just begun to construct to carry the highway to Jewfish Bush Key (now Fiesta Key).  All that remains of the bonus army are their remains at the Hurricane Monument and eight concrete pilings sticking out of the water at MM 73.



Birds at Robbie's

Today, Lower Matecumbe Key is the site of one of the Keys quirkiest roadside attractions.  Immediately after you arrive on Lower Matecumbe, make the first right turn, double back on the old road, and pull into Robbie's Marina at around MM 77.5.  Robbie's has a community of artists outside selling everything from shirts to artwork to the obligatory painted coconuts.  There is a restaurant there called the Hungry Tarpon that serves up a really good breakfast.  But the real fun is to be had at the marina itself.  Head into the marina where you can buy a soda or a beer, and pay a dollar to "see the tarpon".  Buy yourself a bucket of fish to feed the tarpon!  18 years ago, Robbie and his wife began feeding a tarpon they called Scarface at the dock.  Soon more and more showed up and today, dozens of them congregate at the dock for handouts.  Be careful of the pelicans, who can get very aggressive when there is feeding going on!  If you're staying in the area, Robbie's is also where you can rent boats for fishing or for excursions to Indian or Lignumvitae Keys.

On the far opposite end of the island, a small beach is on the ocean side at MM 73.4.  Anne's Beach is relatively uncrowded, has bathrooms for changing, and water so shallow you can walk out a hundred yards in knee-deep water.  If you can get there when no one else is there, it's a nice place to spend some time wading, shelling and watching shore birds.

When you're done on Lower Matecumbe Key, get back in the car and head south over the short Channel #2 bridge (MM 72.7, the 10th bridge on the way down) to the tiny islands of Craig Key.
 

Islamorada - The Minor Islands

While Islamorada consists primarily of Upper Matecumbe and Lower Matecumbe Keys, several other minor and outlying islands make up the community, and some of the most stunning events in the history of the Keys happened here.

Islamorada's minor islands and channels

Leaving Upper Matecumbe Key, you will cross the Tea Table Relief (MM 79.5, bridge #6 on your way down).  During the days of railroad construction, Henry Flagler's engineers not only built rails and bridges, but they also spent a great deal of time constructing land as well.  In fact, long before the railroad was ultimately destroyed by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, other hurricanes severely damaged or destroyed other sections of the railroad requiring repair or reconstruction.  Engineers had done so much filling of the gaps between the islands that oftentimes the water had no place to go around the islands and had nowhere to go but OVER the islands.

The section between Upper and Lower Matecumbe Keys was like this.  The land that exists there today was "fill" that was dredged up and dropped down to support the railroad, and, later, the highway.  The first piece of land here is connected to Tea Table Key, where there is a small public beach and a private home.  Next, you'll cross the Tea Table Channel (MM 79, bridge #7) to Indian Key Fill, barely wide enough for the road.  At mile marker 78, you'll cross the Indian Key Channel (bridge #8) to another small fill.

As you cross the Indian Key Channel, glance to your left (Ocean Side) and you will see Indian Key.  To your right, you'll see Lignumvitae Key.  Finally, at MM 77.5, you will cross the Lignumvitae Channel (bridge #9) to Lower Matecumbe Key.

While there is little to see or do on the road here, the history of this area is worth noting.

Indian Key

Despite the fact that neither the railroad nor the road ever touched Indian Key, its early history is some of the most important in the Upper Keys.  The first American settlers on Indian Key arrived in the mid-1820's, and by 1830 the island was home to around 50 people and two general stores.

In the early 1820's, John Jacob Housman of Staten Island, NY, stole his father's boat and set sail for the Caribbean.  He managed to shipwreck off of Key West and he and his boat were salvaged by Key West wreckers.  Wreckers would rescue boats and their cargoes wrecked on the reef for a portion of the goods carried aboard and was an enormous industry in Key West at the time, making Key West one of the richest cities in the country.

Housman became disenchanted with the wrecking operations and admiralty courts in Key West and soon set up shop on Indian Key, where he envisioned setting up his own port, admiralty court and customs house.  He bought several homes, a store and a bowling alley on Indian Key and set about building his empire.  As Indian Key grew and prospered, it became a popular stop-off point for vessels bound for Key West.  Around the same time, in 1836, Monroe County split into two, with the northern and eastern half becoming Dade County.  While Key West remained the seat of Monroe County, Housman petitioned for, and eventually won, the seat of Dade County on Indian Key. 

Also around the same time, the Second Seminole War was in full swing.  The Seminoles had won several major battles in and around Fort Lauderdale and Cape Florida in 1836.  By 1837 they were attacking in Key Largo.  Housman organized a militia of 30 settlers and a handful of slaves to defend Indian Key from attack.

Meanwhile, in 1838, botanist Dr. Henry Perrine moved, with his family, from Mexico to Indian Key.  Dr. Perrine knew of the Indian unrest, but moved here anyway and set up a business growing tropical plants.  Many of the plants here and on nearb Lignumvitae Key, to this day, are a result of Dr. Perrine's operations here.

In March 1840, Housman submitted a proposal to the Florida government to capture or kill all of the Indians in South Florida.  For this, he would charge $200 per head.  The government never acted on the proposal and it's not quite clear whether the proposal had anything to do with what happened next.

On the night of August 7, 1840, Indians from mainland Florida rowed across to Upper Matecumbe Key, then in the middle of the night attacked Indian Key.  Housman and his wife escaped to Key West.  Dr. Perrine successfully hid his family, but was himself killed by Indians.  6 other residents were killed in the attack and the entire island was burned.

Housman would die the following year in Key West.  The Navy moved into Indian Key from nearby Tea Table Key.  For the next sixty years the island would change hands from the Navy to the Army to several landholders and would maintain a population of 50-60.  The Army used it as a base of operations to construct the Alligator Reef lighthouse.  Henry Flagler acquired it in 1909 and used it as a base of operations to construct the Indian Key Fill (see map above), and then located his Central Supply operation on the newly built fill.  By 1913, the island was essentially abandoned and remained that way until 1971 when it was converted to a state park.

Today, the state runs launches out to the island daily, or you can visit the island by renting a boat.  Little remains of the extensive development on the island from the 1830's - a few foundations and some graves.  Thousands of people roar by every day, just 2000 feet away on US-1 with no idea what happened here 170 years ago.

Upper Matecumbe Key

69 days to go until we're back in the Keys!

The area around Islamorada is rich with history, and two of the bloodiest events in the history of the Keys happened right here on or around the Matecumbes.  This is one of my favorite parts of the island chain.

Lower Matecumbe Key had freshwater wells, and because of that, this part of the Keys was always of interest to transient seafarers.  The Spanish were exploring this area as early as the 1500's.  There is evidence of Indian populations even older than that.  By the 1820's, Indian Key, just south and east of Upper Matecumbe, was not only prospering, but was establishing itself as the seat of Dade County.  By the 1840's, it was all gone, however (more on that later).

By 1909, the railroad had reached the area, but there was little development or change. It wasn't until the highway arrived in 1928 that change would come.  Tourists now had easy access by car from Miami and south Florida to the great fishing, but all that was about to change.

The morning of September 1, 1935 started like any other morning in the Upper Keys.  There were no radar or advanced forecasting at the time.  On that day, residents got their first warning that a storm was on its way and might cross their paths.  On the night of Sunday the 1st, the storm crossed the Bahamas as a relatively small category I hurricane.  Over the next 24 hours, though, the storm exploded in strength until it became the strongest storm ever recorded, and approached the Upper Keys on Labor Day, September 2, 1935, with almost no warning of how strong it had become.

Track of the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (NOAA)

At the time, a "bonus army" of World War I veterans were working in the Matecumbes on the Overseas Highway.  The veterans lived in work camps and fortunately, there were not many other full time residents at the time.  Late in the afternoon on the 2nd, the Florida East Coast Railroad dispatched a rescue train from Miami to evacuate the veterans and local families to higher ground.  However, it was Labor Day and manpower was short.  More time was lost as the train was turned around in Homestead to "back down" the Keys to allow for quicker return.  The train was now racing the hurricane to the Upper Keys.

By 5:30 that night, hurricane force winds were already battering Islamorada and the train was still working it's way down, stopping along the way to pick up anyone and everyone trying to flee the storm.  By 8:30, the train arrived at Upper Matecumbe at the same time the storm's fury started to peak.  Legend has it that the clocks in Islamorada stopped at 8:30 that night.  With winds as high as 200mph, the train was blown right off the tracks, except for the locomotive. Miles and miles of track was destroyed.  The highway was destroyed.  Parts of the Matecumbes were stripped down to bare coral.

More than 400 bodies were recovered after the storm, and countless others were swept to sea.  Those that survived did so by floating in houses or taking shelter in fixed structures like cisterns, and even in the locomotive itself.  With no means of getting into and out of the Keys to transport the bodies, they were burned in four large fires over the next several days, and today their ashes remain in the Hurricane Monument.

The Hurricane Monument stands just Oceanside of the highway right around MM 82.  It is worth the stop to take a look.  The monument sits atop a mass grave containing the ashes of the 400+ bodies burned in 1935.

In the aftermath of the storm, the railroad never rebuilt.  The right-of-way fell into receivership and was purchased by the state for $640,000.  The state used the railroad bed and many of the bridges to complete the missing links in the Overseas Highway.  Most of the bridges still stand to this day and are visible parallel to the newer, more modern bridges that now carry the highway.

Two miles below the monument, you'll cross the Tea Table Relief bridge (#6) and leave Upper Matecumbe Key for Tea Table Key and the "outlying" islands of Islamorada.

Islamorada - Plantation and Windley Keys

70 days til our Keys trip begins!

Plantation and Windley Keys are the first two islands you'll come to after you finally leave Key Largo behind you.  Leaving Key Largo, you will cross the third of your 42 bridges, over Tavernier Creek, at MM 91 and end up on Plantation Key.  Plantation Key also marks the transition from Key Largo to the town of Islamorada.  Islamorada essentially consists of all the islands between and including Plantation Key and Lower Matecumbe Key (MM 91 to MM 70-ish).

If Key Largo's primary attraction is diving, then Islamorada's is surely fishing.  Islamorada bills itself as the "Fishing Capital of the World", and judging by the number of charter boats, outfitters, it's a well-deserved title.  If you're in the Keys for an extended period of time and world-class fishing is what you're after, Islamorada is the place to go.

The Islamorada area is also the setting for some of the most interesting (and certainly the bloodiest) events in the history of the Keys.  Most of this occurred in the Matecumbes, and the outlying islands of Islamorada, which we'll talk more about later.

Plantation Key (MM 90.8 - 85.6)

Plantation Key covers the area from MM 90.8 to MM 85.6.  Today, Plantation Key is a highly residential area with just a few places to stay and eat.  There is not terribly much to do here, or see for that matter if you are passing through on your trip down to Key West.  Plantation Key is named for the pineapple plantations that existed here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  When the railroad came through in 1909, there was a railroad station here, although historical records suggest there was little more than 30 or so homes on the island.

If you happen to be staying in the area, one of the only sandy beaches to be found for miles around is at the Islamorada Founders Park at MM 87 on the Bayside.  This park has a small sandy stretch of beach (man made, of course), picnic areas, and an enormous swimming pool if you prefer fresh water.

Just below Founders Park is another residential area, after which you'll cross Snake Creek (your fourth bridge) to Windley Key.

Windley Key (MM 85.5 - 83.7)

Windley Key has a slightly more rich history than Plantation Key.  Windley Key was the location, at two different times in history, of quarries built to mine coral rock for construction projects.  During the Great Depression, a quarry was established on the north side of the railroad to mine coral for the construction of the Overseas Highway.  Keystone was also mined from this area as well - Keystone being a thin, highly polished cut of coral used in monuments and facades.  The best example of Keystone is in the Hurricane Monument a few miles south of here.

What was left behind when the mining was completed were large, open pits.  In the 1980's there was a plan to flood them and build condos around them, but environmentalists acted to preserve the quarries, and today the site is known as the  Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park (MM 85.2 Bayside).  Here you can walk down into the quarries and marvel at the preserved fossils in the walls and floor of the quarries.  It is probably the only place in the world where one can walk inside an ancient coral reef and is an interesting diversion if you have the time and are at all interested in the geology of the area or the ancient reef.

Just under a mile down the road, on the Ocean Side, another mining project took place closer to the start of the 20th century.  This time, the coral was used in the construction of the railroad.  Today, the quarries are full of water and teeming with sea life at an attraction known as Theatre of the Sea (MM 84.5, Ocean Side).  There are plenty of shows here including dolphin and sea lion shows.  You can also arrange for a dolphin encounter here as well.  Theatre of the Sea is also home to one of my favorite gift shops in all of the Keys.  Naturally, they have the normal assortment of T-shirts, many of which are dolphin- or other sea life-themed, seashells, and various other assorted knick-knacks.  They also have a nice assortment of books dealing with local history that are sometimes difficult to find in other places.  Both the gift shop and the lush gardens outside the gift shop are home to numerous cats that have the run of the facility.  Most of them are well-socialized and will let you play with them and pet them.  If you're missing your cat at home, stop in for your kitty fix here.

As you approach the Whale Harbor bridge take a look out the left hand side (headed south, the Ocean Side).  Two of the Upper Keys biggest party spots are right here.  If you're a landlubber, the Holiday Isle Resort is here, just north of the bridge.  The Holiday Isle has a raucous bunch of bars that have huge crowds on weekend nights.  Just past Holiday Isle, and out to sea a short ways, is the Sandbar.  On weekend afternoons, you'll find dozens of boats parked on the sandbar and a huge party happening on the water.  The only way to get out there is to rent a boat, which you can easily do just down the road in the Matecumbes.  If you've ever been to Destin, ths Sandbar is much like Crab Island in the Destin inlet.

Leaving Windley Key, cross the Whale Harbor bridge (MM 83.7, your fifth bridge) to arrive on Upper Matecumbe Key.

Tavernier

71 days to the Keys!

Tavernier is not an island, but rather another town on the island of Key Largo.  As you leave behind the strip malls and dive shops of Key Largo, the island turns more residential.  Tavernier is almost a "suburb" of Key Largo.

Around MM 92.5, on the left as you head down (Ocean Side), you'll see a turnoff for Harry Harris Park.  If you go down that road, Harry Harris Park is located in the area where the original town of Planter was located in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Planter was a stop on the railroad and was a community noted for growing pineapples and limes.  Two hurricanes pretty much wiped out the pineapple crop in Planter, and key limes were overtaken in popularity and availability by the larger Persian lime, essentially putting and end to farming in Key Largo.

Today, Tavernier is, by Keys standards, a sleepy little community of private homes, Bed & Breakfasts, and a few small shops.  The aforementioned Harry Harris park is a very nice, well-maintained park with a sandy stretch of beach on a small man-made lagoon and is a nice place to spend an afternoon if you're staying in the Key Largo area for a while.

Key Largo

As much as I'm fascinated by the history of the northern (upper) Keys, I've always been of the opinion that there's not a lot in Key Largo for the average tourist.  Key Largo, to me, is a town that people go to just to say they've been to the Keys when they don't quite have the time or the ambition to make it the last two or so hours to Key West.

Unless, of course, you're a diver, that is.  These days, the town of Key Largo, it seems, exists for two reasons.  One is to serve the neverending flow of traffic down into the Keys - cars that are full of kids that haven't eaten OR used a bathroom in at least a half hour since they left Florida City!  The second reason, of course, is the reef, more on that later.

The highway is four lanes here.  If you're curious, the two southbound lanes are where Flagler's railroad was in the early twentieth century.  The northbound lanes are where the original highway (mostly) was.  In some places, there is quite a lot of development BETWEEN the northbound and southbound lanes.  At Mile Marker 105.6, between the highway lanes, is where the original Key Largo railroad depot stood from 1910 until shortly after the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 wiped out the railroad.

Most of the island of Key Largo is densely populated - with people, motels, shops, restaurants, dive shops, and all manner of souvenir shops where one can get everything from T-shirts (3 for $10! the sign says) to seashell-encrusted toilet seats (seriously).  Even with four lanes of traffic, there are a lot of lights, a lot of cross streets, and a LOT of people turning into and out of the aforementioned shops, restaurants and motels.  All this combines to make for what can sometimes be a thoroughly dreadful traffic experience.

One might expect that being closest to the mainland, that Key Largo would have been the earliest settlement in the Keys.  But not so.  Key West had already gone through boom and bust several times over before Key Largo ever saw any serious settlement.  Even the arrival of the railroad did little to grow the area.  In the early days (mid-1800's), pineapple and lime farming was the mainstay of Key Largo, with the community at the time bing called Planter and situated more toward the southern end of present Key Largo.  But even into the 20th century there was no fresh water, no electricity and no way to communicate with the outside world save the daily train that came through.  It wasn't until the Navy brought fresh water through in the mid-40's in the form of a pipeline that the area began to grow.

Undoubtedly, the most popular attraction in Key Largo is John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  The entrance is on the Ocean Side at MM 102.5.  When the park was originally chartered, it consisted of nearly 100 square miles, every last bit of it completely under water.  This was sort of a problem, you see, because there was no place to build a parking lot, an administration building, a bathroom or anything else for that matter.  It took the generous donation of some private landholders to create the first bit of dry land in the park and yet more donations later to provide actual right-of-way to create a road out TO the park.

Today, there is a very nice visitor center, and inside is a very nice reef aquarium.  There is the obligatory film and gift shop that will do it's best to part you from your money.  Here also is where you can find out about everything from the beaches (manmade and not particularly exciting), boat rentals, snorkeling and dive trips, camping, and glass bottom boat rides.  Pennekamp is definitely worth a day trip if you've got the time to work it into your busy schedule, but you really do need to allot an entire day to it.  Don't try to do it on anything less.  And make sure you get there early, because the park DOES have a maximum capacity, and they DO reach it early sometimes.

I'm not a diver, but they tell me there is a nine-foot tall statue of Jesus out there at Key Largo Dry Rocks if that's your thing.

If diving is not so much your thing, you, like Luca Brasi, can swim with the fishes.  Or at least the dolphins.  There are several places to do this in Key Largo, all in the area right around Pennekamp.

But you're on your way to Key West.  So enough about Key Largo for now.  A couple of last things, though.  In case you're counting, the second bridge you cross (after either Jewfish Creek or Card Sound that got you here in the first place) is right in the middle of Key Largo over the Marvin Adams waterway - a man made channel right through the heart of Key Largo providing a way to get from one side of the island to the other without going the long way around.  Key Largo is over 25 miles long, so points on opposite shores that are mere yards apart as the crow flies would be 20 or more miles apart by water if it weren't for the cut.  And lastly?  Stop for Cuban coffee or a con leche at Denny's Latin Cafe around MM 100 on the bay side.  It's right across the street from the Holiday Inn, so you can go there after you see the African Queen.  Then get on down the road - don't waste too much time in Key Largo, there are so many better things to see and do.