KEYS HISTORY: SUGARLOAF RESTAURANT A JUNCTION BETWEEN FORMER RAILROAD & HIGHWAY
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word sugarloaf as “refined sugar molded into a cone.” It can also mean something cone-shaped.
Why the name was given...
KEYS HISTORY: FAMOUS WESTERN NOVELIST ENJOYED ANNUAL FISHING TRIPS ON LONG KEY
Rattlesnakes are pit vipers. Pit vipers have two little heat-sensing pits on their heads between their eyes and nostrils. When a rattlesnake strikes with...
KEYS HISTORY: NEW BOOK EXPLORES SOME ‘CONCH TALES’
It’s exciting to write that volume 3 of my “Florida Keys History with Brad Bertelli” book series is now available.
With each book, I’ve worked...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: REMEMBER WHEN THE MAYOR WATER SKIED TO CUBA?
A lighthearted water-skiing jaunt doesn’t usually involve Cuban gunboats and 6-foot seas. But the late Key West mayor Charles “Sonny” McCoy encountered both in...
KEYS HISTORY: THESE ISLANDS PRESENT SOME NAMING MYSTERIES
Conch is more than a five-letter word in the Florida Keys. It is a marine gastropod, a musical horn, a treasured souvenir, a culture...
KEYS HISTORY: TRAINS, CARS AND A SERIES OF ISLANDS
On a map (yikes, I’m dating myself) or GPS, the fills and bridges connecting Upper Matecumbe Key and Lower Matecumbe Key are excellent examples...
KEYS HISTORY: KEY LARGO OFFERS PLENTY OF STORIES
Because Key Largo is the largest of the Florida Keys, and the Overseas Highway stretches 19.2 miles over the island, it has a lot...
MEET RAY MALONEY: SALVAGING KEY WEST HISTORY
Given his easygoing manner, it’s not immediately apparent that Ray Maloney is a Key West hero. But that designation is well deserved, as he...
WILD THINGS: DOVE HEADS & OLD-SCHOOL ORNITHOLOGY
William Earl Dodge Scott and John Wyley Atkins must have had some interesting correspondence, as evidenced by a letter Atkins once sent to Scott.
“I...
KEYS HISTORY: CUDJOE KEY ONCE SAW MILITARY ACTIVITY
What keeps getting more apparent is all the miles that go into creating the 115-mile-long Overseas Highway have stories to tell. Naturally, some miles...
