KEYS HISTORY: TAVERNIER’S DOC LOWE WAS A MAN OF MANY HATS
Edward R. Lowe was born circa 1882 and first arrived in the Florida Keys following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. During the war, he served as...
KEYS HISTORY: MOSQUITOES BROUGHT MISERY & DISEASE TO FORMER UNION PRISON AT FORT JEFFERSON
The Dry Tortugas represent the tail end of the archipelago called the Florida Keys. In 1908, they were declared a wildlife refuge, in part, to protect nesting...
KEYS HISTORY: FLORIDA KEYS’ BAHIA HONDA ISLAND BUSTLED WITH ACTIVITY
The first surveyor general for British East Florida, William Gerard de Brahn, named the island Rice Island on his 1772 chart. The island’s Spanish name, Bahia Honda,...
KEYS HISTORY: LIGNUMVITAE KEY BOASTS A STORIED PAST
Spoiler alert: the Florida Keys are a low-lying collection of islands that rises, on average, 3.2 feet above sea level. Three islands, however, boast a peak elevation...
KEYS HISTORY: FARMING IN THE FLORIDA KEYS
Lignumvitae Key is in the Islamorada area of the Upper Keys. The island is a bit off the beaten path because it was never connected by the...
KEYS HISTORY: RELIVING OLD COLUMNS & SPREADING LOCAL HISTORY
While it is hard to believe, I have been writing a history column in one of the local newspapers for a decade. I find it hard to...
KEYS HISTORY: BAHIAMIANS & EUROPEAN MAN OCCUPIED KEY WITH ‘NO NAME’
PART 1
No name has been given to many of the 1,700 islands considered part of the Florida Keys archipelago, but No Name Key has been assigned to...
KEYS HISTORY: NEW ROAD DISRUPTS NO NAME PROPERTY OWNER’S PEACE
Nicholas Matcovich, once identified as the King of No Name Key, moved on to the great orchard in the sky on Aug. 14, 1919. His son Mosby,...
KEYS HISTORY: NO NAME KEY PROPERTY HAD TREES & TRAPS
The stocky Russian with large hands named Nicholas Matcovich left Key West with his wife Eliza in 1868. He had reportedly been managing a nursery at the...
KEYS HISTORY: FISHING LODGES, BROTHELS & THE NO NAME PUB
When people talk about No Name Key, they rarely talk about the old Russian immigrant, called by some the King of No Name Key, or farming or...
