Keys TravelerThe Magazine Pigeon Key Tiny Island has a Big History Fly Like James Bond Gibraltar of the Gulf Florida Keys Art Walk fla-keys.com Help Plant a Coral Reef 132442 NewmanKeysTrav2011.indd 1 10/4/11 3:48 PM Embark on a Keys Photo Adventure veryone loves to share photos to keep vacation memories alive. E Keys visitors can now do that with the new Photo Adventure website fla-keys.com/photoadventure. Vacationers can upload their photos into various subject galleries. Contributors could see one of their shots prominently featured as the “Image of the Month.” The site also has a “Meet Professional Photographers” section where Keys photo pros share how-to tips. The “Photo Quest” section uses images to illustrate iconic sights and experiences from Key Largo to Key West. A companion app- lication for mobile devices is to launch in 2012. fla-keys.com/photoadventure Key West’s Smathers Beach by Andy Newman 132442 NewmanKeysTrav2011.indd 2 10/4/11 3:50 PM ROB O’NEAL BOB KRIST 7 8 Keys TravelerThe Magazine Editor Andy Newman Managing Editor Carol Shaughnessy Copy Editor Buck Banks Writers Christina Baez Julie Botteri Kate Burgess-Craddy Production Assistant Carolina Bustamante Advertising Director John Underwood “Keys Traveler” CONTENTS is published by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, the official visitor marketing 4 Tiny Island, Big History agency for the 5 Over-Sea Railroad Centennial Honors Anniversary Florida Keys & Key West. 6 Explore America’s Most Remote National Park Director Harold Wheeler 7 Fly Like “James Bond” at Keys Attractions Director of Sales 8 Key Lime Pie … The Sweeter Side of Keys Cuisine Stacey Mitchell 10 Outdoor Art Celebrates Keys Culture Florida Keys & Key West Angling Tournaments Offer Prizes, Good Times Visitor Information www.fla-keys.com 11 Vacationing for the Greater Good www.fla-keys.co.uk 12 Key West Historic Marker Tour Spotlights History www.fla-keys.de New Road to Keys Open www.fla-keys.ie www.fla-keys.fr 13 Seaplanes Offer Birds-Eye Tours of Keys www.fla-keys.nl Going ‘Batty’ in the Lower Keys www.fla-keys.be Toll-Free in the U.S. and Canada 14 “Sushi” Dazzles Crowds at Key West New Year’s Eve 1-800-FLA-KEYS Key Largo has Cultural Programming Group For the free monthly 15 Islamorada Showcases Cultural Vibe at Art Walks “Keys Traveler” electronic newsletter, subscribe at www.fla-keys.com/keystraveler © 2011 Monroe County Tourist What’s This? Development Council You’ll find this QR Printed in the U.S.A. The Florida Keys code accompanying By Original Impressions & Key West many stories in this issue of “Keys Traveler.” The twitter.com/thefloridakeys QR codes can be scanned by most smart phones. Activate the app, aim your smart phone at the bar code and you’ll be youtube.com/user/FloridaKeysTV automatically taken to a corresponding website or video for more information. For iPhones and iPads, QR readers can be keysvoices.com downloaded for free at the Apple App Store. Cover photo of Pigeon Key near Marathon by Andy Newman 132442 NewmanKeysTrav2011.indd 3 10/5/11 2:30 PM The new, left, and historic, right, Seven Mile bridges near Marathon ROB O’NEAL are symbolic of Overseas Highway spans connecting the Keys to each other and the Florida mainland. TINY ISLAND ANDY NEWMAN Diminutive Pigeon Key (bottom right) lies about two miles west of Marathon. t covers only five acres of land, Today the original Seven Mile By Carol Shaughnessy and seemingly houses little more Bridge no longer carries traffic, and than a sleepy cluster of buildings on history. The island was a base drivers travel a newer span that was Iand vegetation. But when it camp for workers building the Seven completed in 1982. The old bridge comes to Pigeon Key, appearances Mile Bridge, the centerpiece of the still stretches alongside it, empty and are deceiving. railroad known as the Eighth Wonder massive, with Pigeon Key beneath. Surrounded by turquoise water of the World. Pigeon Key is listed on the National beneath the Old Seven Mile Bridge at From 1908 to 1912, more than Register of Historic Places as a true Marathon, the tiny island looms large 400 workers lived in the railroad American treasure. Even so, it’s far in the history of the Florida Keys. village on Pigeon Key, and despite too often overlooked by vacationers When visionary Henry Flagler its small size it had a commissary driving through the Keys. conceived and built the Florida Keys and one-room school. Even after the Do not even think about making Over-Sea Railroad in the early 1900s landmark bridge was completed, that mistake. — forever changing the face of the maintenance crews continued to live Instead, spend a few hours Keys by connecting the formerly on the island. exploring this spot whose history isolated islands to each other and Tragically, a 1935 hurricane ended transports you back in time, and mainland Florida — the biggest the railroad’s reign. But that wasn’t whose geography means there’s challenge was building a bridge in the end of Pigeon Key’s importance. nothing on earth the Middle Keys across nearly seven A state highway was built to replace quite like it. Video miles of open water. the track, and the tiny island became To reach the for During its construction, tiny headquarters to the Florida Road and remote little Pigeon Key made an indelible mark Toll Bridge District. island, you can Scan 4 fla-keys.com • fla-keys.co.uk • fla-keys.de • fla-keys.ie • fla-keys.fr • fla-keys.nl • fla-keys.be Keys Traveler 132442 NewmanKeysTrav2011.indd 4 10/5/11 10:26 AM STEVE PANARIELLO hop a ferry from the Pigeon Key Visitor’s Center (near mile marker 47, oceanside) at Knight’s Key in Marathon or stroll or bicycle along part of the Old Seven Mile Bridge — a journey that literally feels like traveling over water, with a soundtrack composed of the cries of circling sea birds and the hypnotic wash of waves. Once you get to Pigeon Key, there’s plenty to see. Many of the old railroad buildings are still standing, overseen by the not-for-profit Pigeon Key Foundation. One of the original 1909 buildings Visitors to Pigeon Key relax at a picnic table outside one of several historic buildings. houses a museum dedicated to scope of Flagler’s project. atmosphere of an earlier era. the railway’s builders, with exhibits In fact, you can spend the entire If you’re visiting the Florida Keys, including maps, historic photos, day on the island, enjoying activities don’t miss the chance to discover models and a picture postcard such as exploring the fully restored the little island that played such a big collection of the railroad. In this turn-of-the-century buildings, soaking role in Keys history. spot, where work crews shared the up subtropical sun and vistas of It’s more than unique — it’s simply pressure of unrelenting effort, you open blue water, snorkeling along unforgettable. can really grasp the breathtaking the tidal shoreline, and absorbing the pigeonkey.net Over-Sea Railroad Centennial Honors Anniversary elebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Chistoric Florida Keys Over- Sea Railroad’s completion continue through 2012 in the Florida Keys, with primary activities occurring the weekend of Jan. 22, 2012. Exactly 100 years earlier, the first Over-Sea Railroad train rolled from the Florida mainland through the MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY Keys to Key West, connecting the Flagler’s Over-Sea Railroad train crosses the Long Key Viaduct. previously isolated islands with the railroad’s route. considered by many to be the Eighth mainland and each other. The Key West Art & Historical Wonder of the World. Celebration highlights throughout Society is celebrating the The exhibit introduces the railroad the Keys include a community anniversary with a permanent exhibit, workers, cooks, doctors, wives, parade, period costume ball, “Flagler’s Speedway to Sunshine,” at and children who came to the once museum exhibition and displays, the Custom House distant outpost to create a marvel of performance by a re-enactor Museum. modern engineering, with a number portraying Over-Sea Railroad founder Visitors can of artifacts as well as interactive Henry Flagler and a Keyswide kayak learn about this presentations. – C.S. adventure following the historic incredible project, Scan for Video flaglerkeys100.com Keys Traveler fla-keys.com • fla-keys.co.uk • fla-keys.de • fla-keys.ie • fla-keys.fr • fla-keys.nl • fla-keys.be 5 132442 NewmanKeysTrav2011.indd 5 10/5/11 3:02 PM Explore America’s Most Remote National Park trip to Dry Tortugas National nps.gov/drto ANDY NEWMAN (2) Park takes visitors into A a realm untouched by modern civilization, yet unmatched in historic and natural wonders. America’s most remote national park, Dry Tortugas is a cluster of seven tiny islands approximately 70 miles west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The undeveloped islands were named Las Tortugas, Spanish for The Turtles, by explorer Ponce de Leon in 1513. Awash in pirate legend and wild bird life, they soon became known as the “Dry Tortugas” because they had no fresh water. The park’s centerpiece is 19th- century Fort Jefferson, sometimes called the Gibraltar of the Gulf of Mexico. Construction on the gigantic fort, whose walls are 8 feet thick and 50 feet tall, began in 1846 and continued for 30 years, but was never completed. During the Civil War, Fort Jefferson was a Union military prison that housed Dr. Samuel Mudd and three others convicted of complicity in President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.