KEYS HISTORY: LANTERN FUEL PUTS LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS LIVES AT RISK
The story reprinted in the Boston Globe on Nov. 22, 1896, originally appeared in the New York Sun. Jacob Bethel was visiting New York City from the...
OPPORTUNITIES & DANGERS OF FLORIDA TREATY’S KEYS ACQUISITION
When the United States acquired the Florida Territory, it was a bigger version of Florida than is mapped today. During British ownership (1763-1783), the territory was divided...
KEYS HISTORY: CIGARS & FARMING APLENTY
It is difficult to tell a Key West or a Key Largo story without telling a Florida Keys story.
What time has done is produce a system of...
KEYS HISTORY: ETCHING KEYS TREASURE HUNTERS INTO HISTORY
Art “Silver Bar” McKee is a celebrated Florida Keys treasure hunter. He was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, on Nov. 2, 1910, and always loved the water.
As...
KEYS HISTORY: A NEW SPANISH FLEET MYSTERY
Hurricane warnings: sometimes you listen and sometimes you do not
This time of year always makes me a little anxious. Not only is it hurricane season, but it...
KEYS HISTORY: FLAGLER’S DREAM COMES TO STORMY END
Henry Flagler arrived in Key West on Jan. 22, 1912. Thousands attended the heralded event. One of those attendees was a 12-year-old boy named Marvin Thompson. Decades...
KEYS HISTORY: CAPTAIN BAKER’S PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
In the mid to late 1800s, Captain Ben Baker was the King of the Florida Wreckers. His 13-ton, three-masted schooner “Rapid” was the pride of the Baker...
WRECKER KING OF INDIAN KEY: A LOOK AT JOHN JACOB HOUSMAN
John Jacob Housman was born in 1799 on Staten Island, New York. The son of an oysterman, he was one of nine children. As a young man,...
SPOILER: FIRING A CANNON AT A WATERSPOUT DOESN’T STOP IT
Darien, Georgia, is the second oldest planned city in Georgia. Located on the Atlantic coast, Darien is situated at the mouth of the Altamaha River. It is...
HOW A KEY VACA CONSTRUCTION PROJECT LED TO THE TROPICAL HOTEL
The American period begins with the Adams-Onis Treaty that transferred the Florida Territory from Spanish ownership in 1821. Indian Key is a small 11-acre island in the...