The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers (Florida's History Through Its Places)

Today, on the Keys between Key West and the mainland, some 40,000 residents and thousands of visitors fish, swim, sail, and dive in the crystal clear waters off a tropical reef; relax in the sun and cooling tradewind breezes; and sleep in the air-conditioned comfort of their homes and hotel rooms.

On these same islands, as short a time as 80 years ago, fewer than 300 inhabitants tried to eke out a living without benefit of electricity, running water, radios, or telephones. Tormented by clouds of voracious mosquitoes and no-see-ums, broiled by the tropical sun, they lived in thatched-roof homes regularly flattened by hurricane winds. Weeks would go by before some passing sailboat brought them news of the outside world or their relatives. The stories of these hardy pioneers and their predecessors, as far back as the Native Americans who lived on the Keys at least 1,000 years ago, are told, many for the first time, in this book.

Using old newspapers, letters, diaries, and government records, as well as interviews with old-timer natives of the Keys, the author has brought to life the trials and successes of Keys pioneers as they struggled to build a life for themselves and their loved ones in an often harsh environment. From the earliest Keys inhabitants, who plundered wrecks on the reef and either murdered or rescued the survivors according to whether they were English or Spanish, to the early-20th-century landowner who built a tower in an attempt to lure mosquito-eating bats, inhabitants of the Keys have coped with nature and other human beings as best they could. Their occupations have included such diverse ventures as salvaging wrecks, growing sponges, planting pineapples, making charcoal, and skinning sharks.

The author has written an affectionate and respectful account of the early life of one of Florida’s most treasured areas.