Page 325 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

THE E VERGLADES & THE KEY S  323

with unusual species of trees, a stream of settlers from the earliest settlers. It has a lively
such as silver palm and yellow Americas, the Caribbean, and Caribbean flavor with a
satinwood. Canoes, kayaks, Europe; their legacy is visible in number of brightly painted
and water sports gear are the island’s unique architecture clapboard buildings.
available to rent. The adjacent and cuisine. An influx of writers A prime attraction is the
Looe Key National Marine and a large gay community Spanish-Colonial style
Sanctuary is a spectacular have further added to Key Hemingway Home, where
dive location, with abundant West’s cultural cocktail. novelist Ernest Hemingway
marine life. Most of the sights are lived from 1931 to 1940.
The second largest island, Big within a few blocks of Duval The room where he penned
Pine Key is the Lower Keys’ main Street, the main axis of Old several of his most famous
residential community and the Key West. By-lanes, such as works, such as To Have and
best place to see the diminutive Fleming Street, have many Have Not (the only book set
Key deer. The turning near MM fine 19th-century wooden in Key West), is above the
30 leads to the Blue Hole, a buildings, which contrast with carriage house. His library,
flooded quarry whose viewing the simple homes erected to travel mementos, and
platform is ideal for watching house Cuban cigar-workers. memorabilia, such as the cigar-
the deer and other wildlife. The Oldest House on Duval maker’s chair on which he sat
Street was originally the home and wrote, are on display.
Key Largo of the wreck captain Francis B. The Mel Fisher Maritime
n MM 106, (305) 451-1414, (800) Watlington. Built in 1829, its Museum on Green Street
822-1088. ∑ fla-keys.com design displays some eccentric displays fabulous shipwreck
O John Pennekamp Coral Reef maritime influences, such as a treasures such as coins, jewels,
State Park hatch used for ventilation in the and crucifixes. These were
MM 102.5. Tel (305) 451-1202. roof. Farther down, the salvaged by the late
Open daily. & 7 limited. San Carlos Institute, Mel Fisher, who discovered
founded in 1871, is a the wrecks of the Spanish
c Key West Cuban heritage center. galleons Nuestra Señora
The garden of Heritage
de Atocha and Santa
* 25,000. k @ g n 402 Wall St, House Museum, on Margarita, about 40
(305) 294-2587. Caroline Street, has the miles (64 km) west of
Robert Frost cottage, Diver’s helmet, Mel Key West in 1985. Inside
The southernmost settlement named after the famous Fisher Museum were 47 tons of gold
in the US, Key West is a magnet American poet who and silver bars, and 70
for people who want to leave frequently stayed here. At the lbs (32 kg) of raw emeralds that
the rest of America behind. In northern edge of the Old Town sank with the galleons in 1622.
the 16th century, it became a is Mallory Square, which comes The Conch Train and the Old
haven for pirates and “wreckers.” to life at sunset, when a variety Town Trolley Tour are conven-
“Wrecking,” or the salvage of of performing artists amuse the ient options for exploring
shipwrecks on the Keys’ coral crowds. The nearby Shipwreck the town.
reef, was the business that first Museum gives an insight into
made Key West rich. the times and life of “wreckers”. P Hemingway Home
It soon became Florida’s The Bahama Village on the 907 Whitehead St. Tel (305) 294-1136.
wealthiest city, and its western fringe of the Old Open daily. & 7 limited.
opportunistic lifestyle attracted Town is named after Key West’s ∑ hemingwayhome.com
Florida’s Coral Reef
North America’s only live coral reef extends 200 miles (320 km) along the length of the Keys, from Miami to
the Dry Tortugas. A complex and delicate ecosystem, it protects these islands from oceanic storms. Coral
reefs are created over thousands of years by tiny marine organisms known as polyps and are home to a
multitude of plants and sea creatures, including 500 species of fish.
Pillar coral Elkhorn coral Brain coral Giant tube
Smooth starlet sponge
coral

Sea fans, soft corals with no Flower coral Sea rod Staghorn
skeleton coral

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