Plantation Key

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Plantation Key is an island in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is located in the upper Florida Keys on U.S. Route 1 (or the Overseas Highway), between Key Largo and Windley Key.

All of the key is within the Village of Islamorada as of November 4, 1997, when it was incorporated.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Plantation Key is located at 24°58′33″N, 80°33′08″W.GR1 It is separated from Key Largo by Tavernier Creek (Mile Marker 91.0) at its Northeast end, and from Windley Key by Snake Creek (Mile Marker 85.5) at its Southwest end.[1]

[edit] History

Plantation Key was inhabited by Native Americans at least 1,000 years before European contact with the Americas. A large mound was formerly located towards the northeastern end of the key. Artefacts removed from the mound were dated to A.D. 500 to 700. The mound was leveled in 1958 to allow development of a real estate subdivision.

Immigrants from the Bahamas began settling on Plantation Key in the middle of the 19th Century. Two families were recorded on the key in the 1870 census. Several more families had moved to the key by 1880. the settlers raised coconuts and pineapples. The pineapples were shipped by schooner to northern U. S. ports such as Baltimore and New York City.

The completion of the Overseas Railroad, which ran the length of Plantation Key, destroyed the agricultural economy of the island. The Florida East Coast Railway began shipping pineapples from Cuba at such low prices that the growers in the Keys could not compete. Prohibition brought new industry to Plantation Key, however, as the close proximity of the Florida Keys to the Bahamas made the keys, including Plantation Key, convenient landing places for bootleggers.[2]

Before the Flagler railway crews filled Little Snake Creek, which crossed at a point around today's Treasure Harbor, the southwest end of Plantation Key was a separate island known as Snake Creek Key. Plantation Key is the site of a number of prehistoric Indian sites and mounds, most of which have been destroyed by development. An early settlement on the oceanside was known as Pearl City for a large conch pearl found by John Lowe.[3]

[edit] Schools

Plantation Key Elementary/Middle School (serving the Islamorada area) and Coral Shores High School (serving the upper Florida Keys from Islamorada to Key Largo) are located on Plantation Key.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mile Markers in the Florida Keys -retrieved August 9, 2006
  2. ^ History of Plantation Key - retrieved August 8, 2006
  3. ^ http://keys.fiu.edu/gazetteer/00000111.htm "Key Names" Florida Keys Gazetteer
  4. ^ Monroe County Educational Facilities - retrieved August 7, 2006


Cities and communities of Monroe County, Florida
County seat Key West Location of Monroe County
Incorporated places Islamorada | Key Colony Beach | Key West | Layton | Marathon
Unincorporated places Stock Island | Key Haven | Big Coppitt Key | Bay Point | | Perky | Cudjoe Key | Big Pine Key | Duck Key | Tavernier | Key Largo | North Key Largo | Flamingo |- Adjacent Counties Collier | Miami-Dade



Edit Florida Keys
Biscayne National Park Soldier Key, Ragged Keys, Boca Chita Key, Sands Key, Elliott Key, Adams Key, Old Rhodes Key, City of Islandia
Upper keys Key Largo (island), North Key Largo (CDP), Key Largo (CDP), Tavernier (CDP), Plantation Key (island), Plantation Key (former CDP), Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Indian Key, Lignumvitae Key, Lower Matecumbe Key, Village of Islamorada
Middle keys Craig Key, Fiesta Key, Long Key, City of Layton, Conch Key, Duck Key (CDP), Grassy Key, Crawl Key, Long Point Key, Fat Deer Key, Key Vaca, City of Marathon, City of Key Colony Beach, Boot Key, Knight's Key, Pigeon Key
Lower keys Little Duck Key, Missouri Key, Ohio Key, Sunshine Key, Bahia Honda Key, Spanish Harbor Keys, West Summerland Key, No Name Key, Big Pine Key (CDP), Little Torch Key, Middle Torch Key, Big Torch Key, Ramrod Key, Summerland Key, Knockemdown Key, Cudjoe Key (CDP), Sugarloaf Key, Park Key, Lower Sugarloaf Key, Saddlebunch Keys, Shark Key, Geiger Key, Big Coppitt Key (CDP), East Rockland Key, Rockland Key, Boca Chica Key, Key Haven, Stock Island (CDP), Key West
Outlying islands Sunset Key, Marquesas Keys, Dry Tortugas
Areas Florida Bay, Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, National Key Deer Sanctuary, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Biscayne Bay, Biscayne National Park, Key West National Wildlife Refuge, Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Other topics Monroe County, Conch Republic, Overseas Highway, Overseas Railroad, Card Sound Bridge, Seven Mile Bridge, Bahia Honda Bridge, Theater of the Sea, Hurricane Georges, Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Key Deer, Ocean Reef Club, Key lime pie


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