Best known for margaritas, music and deep sea fishing, the Florida Keys also have a rich historic past and natural experiences that many travelers don’t take the time to explore.
Ann Cochran shares the side of the Florida Keys that first attracted Hemingway and his predecessors, and is still accessible for travelers today.
Islamorada
A 90-minute drive south from the Miami airport on the Overseas Highway (U.S. 1) brings you to Islamorada, a collection of six small islands popular for sports fishing.
The Cheeca Lodge & Spa has transformed itself from a rustic fishing lodge to a beach-front resort with a spa, golf, tennis, and fresh and saltwater pools.
Photos of former Presidents line the renovated walls. (photo at right: Cheecha Lodge)
Accessible to hotel guests and the public, the Pioneer Cemetery at the Cheeca Lodge is a small, restored graveyard of the town’s earliest residents.
Often known as the Sport-fishing Capital of the World, Islamorada is the home of the Bass Pro Shop’s Worldwide Sportsman. The centerpiece of the immense store is a 1933 boat that Hemingway fished on that inspired his 1934 boat, thePilar. Customers can board the boat and touch Hemingway’s actual typewriter.
On the second floor of the store is the Zane Grey’s Long Key Lounge. It’s named after author Zane Grey, who was a passionate fisherman and one of the first to go after sailfish. The lounge is decorated with photos and artifacts of Grey, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Mellon and others.
Next door to the Bass Pro Shop is the Morada Bay Café, where you can stretch your toes in the sand and watch the sunset while enjoying tropical drinks and locally-caught seafood
A short walk down the beach is the acclaimed Pierre’s. Stop by the upscale restaurant if only for a drink to catch the unusual décor that includes 16th century Tibetan temple doors.
More hotspots: Ask the Locals Travel Guide: Key West & The Florida Keys
Also in Islamorada is Theater of the Sea. Established in 1946, it is the second-oldest marine mammal facility in the world. Bottlenose dolphins can be seen playing in their natural salt-water lagoon. (photo credit: Theater of the Sea)
Dolphins, sea lions, sea turtles, tropical and game fish, sharks, stingrays, and other marine life inhabit the 17-acre facility. Exotic birds, lizards and crocodiles can be seen out of the water. There’s even a refuge for injured endangered species like sea turtles that lost their fins from ocean debris.
Key Largo
Twenty miles north of Cheeca Lodge is Key Largo where there are two noteworthy parks…
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is our nation’s first and only undersea park, which was established to preserve the only living coral reef in the U.S. The park was named for the Miami newspaper editor who was instrumental in preserving the land that would become the Everglades National Park.
Next door is the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. When combined with Pennekamp, they have 178 nautical square miles of coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangrove swamps. Underwater there are 600 species of tropical fish, more than any other reef in the world. Explore the reef by glass-bottom boat, scuba diving or snorkeling.
More Eco-Travel: Everglades National Park: An Eco-Travel Vacation in Florida
Marathon
Marathon is the Keys’ halfway point. From here you can take a ferry to Pigeon Key. In Marathon, don’t miss a meal at Keys Fisheries where your entree will literally come fresh off the boat.
Keys Fisheries supplies Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, so stick with the stone crab claws and skip the hyped Lobster Reuben. If it’s not stone crab season, choose the daily catch, which could be any number of local favorites, like grouper sailfish, wahoo, shark, king mackerel, cobia, or tarpon.
Pigeon Key
The footprint of Henry Flager, John D. Rockefeller’s partner in the Standard Oil Company, and the pioneer of travel to the keys is best found on Pigeon Key. This three-acre island is an ideal place to reflect on the industrialist who fostered tourism in the Keys’ twisted mangroves.
Many thought Flagler was an eccentric fool to spend $25 million on an overseas railroad from Miami to Key West. In 1908, construction workers began the Seven Mile Bridge from Marathon to Little Duck Key. At the project’s midpoint, Pigeon Key served as construction headquarters and housed as many as 400 workers, who worked 14-hour days, six days a week.
Seven of the headquarters’s original structures survive and have been restored. The Assistant Bridge Tender’s House (pictured at top of article) is now a museum with a historic maps, photos, films, models and postcard collection.
The first train chugged through the previously isolated Florida Keys to Key West in January 1912. (A year-long celebration to honor the historic railroad, lauded as the most unique railway in the world, will culminate on January 22, 2012, the 100th anniversary of the inaugural train’s arrival in Key West.)
In 1935, a category-five hurricane destroyed 40 miles of the rail beds. When it was time to rebuild, the government repurposed the railroad and created a highway that linked the Keys and connected them to mainland Florida. The Old Seven Mile Bridge survived the hurricane and stands next to the sleek new Seven Mile Bridge that was built in 1982.
Cross the bridge and you’re well on your way to Key West. Check back next week for Ann Cochran’s look at historic Key West.
By Ann Cochran for PeterGreenberg.com. Photos by Ananda Ellis except as indicated. Ann Cochran is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. Visit her on the Web at www.annpcochran.com.
Related Links:
- Ask the Locals Travel Guide: Key West & The Florida Keys
- Spring Fishing Guide Part One: Five Top Fishing Destinations
- Everglades National Park: An Eco-Travel Vacation in Florida
- Hurricane Season 2008: Hanna, Ike & Josephine
