Kayaking to Indian Key State Park in the Florida Keys | Robbie’s Islamorada

 Indian Key drone flyover from Islamorada

Indian Key Historic State Park

  Indian Key-—Bloody History or Just crazy legend?

This Key has been many thing and most recently some of this Key’s History has been called into question.

Located South East of Islamorada and reachable only by boat—it’s just a short trip from Highway 1 as it makes it journey to its end in Key West—Indian Key is a site that has hosted many people and were legend say several of those died.   And other say it ain’t so.

Indian Key Snorkel

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In the days that the Spanish ruled Florida these islands were sometimes used by Spanish as well as pirates and all manner of others to tie up for the night—or for repairs—-but not for water—the Keys are notorious for being without water except for a few springs  but it might be noted that the Keys today get their water piped down from the mainland of Florida and those pipes run along the bridges and road ways all the way to Key West.

It is said that the island’s original name was Matanzas  (if you’ll remember that is the name of an inlet at St. Augustine —also originally Spanish) and like St. Augustine to the north, it was named for the massacre of French Huguenots  (i.e. Protestant while the Spanish were Catholic) —-in this case they were ship wreck and numbered about 400,  on this particular Key and instead of being massacred by the Spanish like further north here it was supposedly  by the Calusa who frequented the islands/but then they were shipwrecked here which might have been the Spanish’s doing as the Keys aren’t far from their Key Island of Cuba at that time   —-but I am told that historical support for this is not really strong—-but that’s the start or at least rumor of blood shed here.

Eventually the French went to Louisiana and the Spanish were replaced by the British and then after the Revolutionary War back to the Spanish who eventually turned it over the US in 1819. Key West   and the rest of the Keys joined Florida  23 years later in 1822

and all that confusion ended up  making Indian Key a major site in Florida for a few seconds.

Influence of France on Florida

Cistern on Indian Key—with not fresh water the inhabitants had to depend on drinking rain water that accumulated in these cisterns. 

Key West Wreckers

Running not too far out of Key West is the only Coral Reef located along a US mainland coast line.  Below Key West is the passage into the Gulf of Mexico (in fact during the Civil War the Federal Fort in Key West Fort Zachery  which though Key West like the rest of Florida went with the South during the war—the commander of the Fort got news of the situation before the people of the town and was thus able to hold the fort and secure the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico for the North) and the shipping that ventured near these reefs were many and wrecks found near Key West go back to the Spanish  and their ships full of gold as they plundered the Incas, Aztecs and other natives of the areas they claimed for their own.

At the founding of Key West it was much more current treasure that they were looking for—-ships that due to all manner of storms etc—wrecked them and the men who resided on Key West and other Keys who waited on shore and manned their ships to board the abandoned wrecks and legally remove the cargo which they could sell for a profit—testified by the number of lovely homes built on the small island of Key West.   They were called Wreckers and they made Key West their capital and main residence for a large group of these men who made a living from other’s misfortunes.

Then enters Jacob Houseman—and we finally get back to Indian Key.  Again there is much to do about what really happened.  The standard story is that Houseman took his father’s trading schooner with out his permission and sailed south eventually hitting the coral reef and having to go into port at Key West for repairs.    But more studious folks have made this comment about what they have found in documents:  The Charleston Courier on July 27, 1822 shows the port departure under the charge of a Captain Housman, a sloop, the WILLIAM HENRY.    We know that Housman was in the Keys in 1825 via the records of the adjudication of the cargo of the French brig REVENGE in Key West.  In the General History of Indian Key
Biography of Jacob Housman   By Jerry Wilkinson

The Wrecker’s of Key West

Florida Keys’ Hidden Rain Forest – Lignumvitae Key

And that was the end of Indian Key as a county seat—-as a residence for anyone I’ve ever heard of—-though it is said that two more persons—fishermen I think but I may be wrong or they may have been made up too???!!!!!  Any way they took shelter here when a hurricane came in and they found shelter in the old cistern on the island—-one or both—–I read the store long ago—-were found drowned in their shelter when the storm cleared away.

Meanwhile Houseman and his wife returned to Key West, it is said that he signed the island over to a couple of people to pay some of his debts and he went to work, back on the salvage/wreckers that he was now just a mate on and no longer a captain—on a ship that was owned and captained by a former rival.  Nine months after the massacre, when attempting to board a vessel he was salvaging he was killed  when he failed to clear the gap between the two ships and was reportedly crushed between them.    He was reportedly buried back on Indian Key—but the tombstone and a historical marker as well as his body or probably skelton have all reportedly been removed.

Since then Indian Key has been an occasional fishing, camp, and a community was formed on the island in the 1870’s when the key became a site for building Schooners and sloops.  It was also on this tiny key that construction workers for Alligator Reef Lighthouse built in 1873 lived and kept the pieces that were put together on the reef as a light house and today it is a state park.  And the only sign of the town, or the ship and lighthouse builders that were here, is the crumbling cisterns that caught the rain water to supply fresh water to the various households with no sign of the two (or maybe 3) streets, 20 houses, wharves, warehouse and post office.  And don’t forget the hotel we mentioned previously and yes they even their  bowling alley.

There use to be a ferry across from lower area of Islamorada —these adventures were on staggered days with Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park and I have visited these lovely islands both more than once—It was never crowded and I always enjoyed them very much—-check out the sites—just click on park name here and the Indian Key at the top and take the

Islamorada — The Village of Islands

And now you understand  a few of the reasons why I love the Keys—-maybe I’ve convinced you to try wandering about the lesser known areas—my husband and I drove on every road on every key (or at least the ones that weren’t private)

Florida Travel: The Beauty of Bahia Honda State Park

My picture at Below is of Bahia Honda another great Keys Park—-And the Main picture at the start is the same park—-I have Indian Key pictures but the number of photo albums make finding a specific vacation sometimes a bit difficult.

Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys