Brad Bertelli

There is a bar on Islamorada’s Windley Key with a sign declaring “the oldest most established liquor license in the Keys.” Without even considering some of the older watering holes in Key West, Key Largo’s Caribbean Club could challenge the claim. According to the Key West Citizen, Tom Hanley...

I moved to the Florida Keys in 2001, so I could live on an island, sip rum and finish my great Florida novel. It seems like a lifetime ago. When I was researching my first book, “Snorkeling Florida,” every dive captain had their own story about how this reef...

Thomas Edison is best remembered for his ground-breaking work with electricity and the phonograph. He is not so well remembered as an early Florida snowbird, which he was.  Edison first ventured down from New Jersey and into Monroe County in 1885, when he purchased more than 13 acres along the...

This is the second in a two-part series on the Hermit Artist of Key Largo.  It seemed that Harry Sonntag, the Hermit Artist of Key Largo, found his peace when he arrived on Key Largo. In 1952, Sonntag strolled into the office at the Key West Citizen and told his...

Editor’s Note: This the first in a two-part series on Harry Sontang, the Hermit Artist of Key Largo.  In 1960, a Kissimmee couple traveled to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, to enjoy a tropical island vacation. They stayed in a rooming house where, underneath the bed, they discovered a large bag. When...

Cruising up the Overseas Highway and out of the Florida Keys, there are two ways to drive over Key Largo. Just after Mile Marker 106, the usual option is to follow the highway’s gentle curve, go over the Jewfish Creek Bridge, and up the 18-Mile Stretch. The other option...

The pineapple was a New World treat allegedly “discovered” during Christopher Columbus’ second voyage to the New World. According to the story, on November 4, 1493, a landing crew from one of the expedition ships came ashore at an unidentified island. Columbus named the island, found 300 miles southeast...

Key West’s Audubon House was built after 1846’s Havana Hurricane ravaged Cuba, destroyed the Sand Key Lighthouse, and threw the double hurricane punch of high winds and tidal surge at Key West.  John Huling Geiger was responsible for the house’s construction. He was one of Key West’s early residents and...

Even before Florida became a U.S. territory, Spain’s government tried to give away the largely uninhabited frontier land. In the Spanish territorial years, these efforts were called Spanish Land Grants. After the territory became a U.S. possession, President Abraham Lincoln passed the Homestead Act of 1862. The act allowed...

The oldest house in the Florida Keys, outside of Key West, takes a bit of effort to find. It is found in the woods of Marathon, on Key Vaca, at Crane Point Hammock.  The house was built by George Adderley, who, circa 1890, at 20 years of age, left his...

The Lincoln Perry story begins in Key West but does not stay on the island for long. He was born Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry on May 30, 1902, on Key West, making him a Conch who would grow up to be a successful, if not polarizing, Hollywood actor. His...

In a letter written dated March 3, 1935, poet Robert Frost wrote: “The oldest person I could find in the Key West grave yard yesterday (Sunday) was a veteran of the war of 1812 who died in Key West at 108 years of age. But may have lived to...