KEYS HISTORY: A NEW FIRE COMPANY & ACADEMY AMONG NOTABLE 1829 NEWS CLIPPINGS
The island chain’s first newspaper was The Key West Register, and Commercial Advertiser and was first printed on Jan. 8, 1929. The operation was managed by Thomas...
KEYS HISTORY: A TUSSLE OVER A SHIP SALVAGE
Working with history is always a learning process. I think it is pretty safe to say that when it comes to history, you only know as much...
EXOTIC PET TRADE BROUGHT INVASIVE GUESTS TO THE FLORIDA KEYS
As a kid who grew up hunting snakes and catching lizards, I find South Florida and the Keys to be something of a reptilian mecca. It is...
MOSQUITO MISERY: FLYING BLOOD-SUCKERS STIRRED LONG HOLLOW TOOTH INTO KEYS HISTORY
These days, the small island in the Atlantic shallows off of the Matecumbe Keys is home to Indian Key Historic State Park. Bahamian sailors called it Kay...
KEYS HISTORY: A 1920S ANTI-MOSQUITO MOVEMENT SWELLS IN THE SUNSHINE STATE
Before diving into this 20th-century mosquito story, I need to backtrack. In last week’s 19th-century mosquito story, I referred to yellow fever and malaria as the same....
KEYS HISTORY: EARLY PIONEERS HAD A DIFFERENT NAME FOR THIS CRUSTACEAN
If you are not following my Facebook group, Florida Keys History with Brad Bertelli, then you are missing out on daily doses of great local history. One...
KEYS HISTORY: ALLIGATORS WERE NEAR THE ISLAND CHAIN WELL BEFORE THE BLUE HOLE ON...
One of my favorite things about driving across Florida’s peninsula, traveling between the Keys and the west coast (preferably to Sanibel or Captiva islands), is spotting alligators.
Whether...
KEYS HISTORY: EARLY PIONEER JOHN ‘BRUSH’ PINDER’S LIFE ON THE FARM & SCHOONER
This Florida Keys story begins and ends in Key West. Like many told about the archipelago, it reaches well beyond a single island.
The story is mainly about...
KEYS HISTORY: CORAL ROCK WALL ON LIGNUMVITAE KEY BRINGS HISTORICAL INTRIGUE
The Spanish have been influencing the Florida Keys since shortly after the New World was discovered — indeed, since Ponce de Leon sailed past in 1513.
It was...
KEYS HISTORY: THE ISLAND CHAIN BEARS A VARIETY OF FRUITS
One of the best early accounts of aboriginal life in the Florida Keys was in a memoir by Hernando De Escalante Fontaneda. As a boy, Fontaneda was...
