Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a chain of some 1700 islands around 200 kilometres (over 120 miles) long extending out from mainland Florida south of Miami to Key West. At Key West you are only 145 km (90 miles) from Havana in Cuba. Since this is the USA, where the car is king, you can drive all the way down the Keys on the ‘Overseas Highway’ crossing many bridges including the famous ‘7 Mile Bridge’. The further down the Keys that you go, the more different they feel from the rest of the USA. When you get to Key West you find yourself in a very different world. Key West residents call themselves Conches (pronounced ‘Conks’) after a local sea snail and refer to the island as the Conch Republic. Maybe the history of Wrecking and Prohibition Bootlegging has something to do with it.
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Sailing ships at sunset from Mallory Square, Key West
From Wreckers through to Bootleggers many residents of Key West have had unusual lifstyles. In the 1960’s Hippies came to town and they started a tradition of gathering at Mallory Square to entertain one another while watching the sun setting over the ships returning to harbour. The tradition continues today and around sunset you will find the Square heaving with tourists who cluster round entertainers performing all manner of impossible feats. Click on Tab 2 to see the sunset crowds at Mallory Square.
The Little White House, Key West
Back to Key West and another famous resident, President Harry S Truman. The location of Key West means that it has long been an important naval station, and in 1890 this house was built as the quarters for the Naval Station’s First Officer. After Truman became President in 1945 he regularly stayed here for rest and relaxation, so the house became known as the ‘Little White House’. It was also used occasionally by Eisenhower and Kennedy during their Presidencies. In 1991 it was became a State Historic Park. The house is still furnished as it was in Truman’s days, including his poker table.
Glass Bottomed Boat, John Pennekamp State Park
Along the Florida Keys can be found the only living coral reefs in the USA. Named after a Miami newspaper editor, this state park was set up on the coast of Key Largo in 1963 to preserve an area rich in coral, mangroves and sea grass. The coral reef can be viewed by scuba diving or snorkelling. For those who prefer not to get wet there is a glass bottomed boat that allows you to view it in relative comfort, but don’t expect to escape being tossed about by the waves!
Bahia Honda old bridge from Bahia Honda State Park
The Keys were only accessible by boat until in 1912 they were linked by a railroad built by mogul Henry Flagler. The Overseas Railroad, as it was known, was 206 kilometers (128 miles) long running across numerous islands and 42 stretches of open water at a cost of over $50 million. In 1935 a section of the railroad on the island of Islamorada was destroyed by a hurricane. By then the railroad company was bankrupt and could not afford to rebuild the line, so it sold the right of way to the state for conversion into a highway which opened in 1938. Here at Bahia Honda, the highway was mounted on top of the old railroad trusses. Bahia Honda bridge was already disused when we first visited in 1982 but at that time the road still went across the old 7 mile bridge which also started life as a railroad bridge. New bridges have now replaced all of the old railroad bridges on the ‘Overseas Highway’. Click on Tab 2 to see a view of the new bridge under construction taken from the old 7 mile bridge.
Sloppy Joe's Bar, Duval Street, Key West
The other major ‘shrine’ to Hemingway is his favourite watering hole, Sloppy Joe’s Bar. Hemingway arrived in the prohibition era, not that prohibition made it difficult to find a drink in a place like Key West. With the lifting of Prohibition in 1933 bars sprang up in Key West and Hemingway became a regular in one called the ‘Blind Pig’. By 1937 the bar had changed its name to ‘Sloppy Joe’s and moved to a new location, but one fixture remained - Hemingway. Nowadays it is crammed to the gunwhales with tourists and in mid July each year it runs an annual Papa Hemingway lookalike competition. What would Hemingway make of that?
Hemingway House, Key West
As the southernmost point in the continental USA and at the end of a long highway you might expect Key West to be a bit of a backwater. You would be wrong, Key West can boast plenty of famous residents. Writer Ernest Hemingway lived a lot of his life outside of the USA but from 1931 he lived in this house in Key West with his wife Pauline. When he and Pauline divorced in 1939 he moved to Havana but he continued to own the house in Key West until his death in 1961. The house has been preserved complete with his furniture and is now one of two major ‘shrines’ to Hemingway in Key West. Click on Tab 2 to see Hemingway’s Writing Studio.
© Mike Elsden 1981 - 2023
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