History
A turtle at Molasses Reef, by Tim Grollimund. You can see more of his images at
www.timgimages.com.
The local charter trade refers to Molasses Reef as the aquarium. The mix of sponges, corals, and limestone substrate create a massive, brilliantly designed underwater complex. A spur-and-groove reef formation, it is festooned with intricately designed hard corals, sponges shaped like barrels and vases, and supple soft corals — brilliant purple sea fans and delicate sea whips. The nooks and crannies attract tropical fish like wildflowers draw honeybees.
Posted: Monday, July 11, 2011 11:00 AM EDT
The Knight’s Key dock could service two ocean-going steamships and two fully completed passenger trains. It opened for rail and sea traffic in February 1908. (Photo courtesy of Jerry Wilkinson)
The Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys’ April 11 history program will be a high resolution overhead slide show titled “The Key West Extension Scare of 1907.” The program will be mostly newspaper clippings of Florida East Coast railroad construction being stopped south of Marathon in mid-1907 and almost all at Key West
Posted: Friday, April 08, 2011 11:00 AM EDT
A satellite view shows the Carysfort Reef Light, just right of center, surrounded by an abundance of coral on a broad reef tract.
OFF KEY LARGO — While thousands of reefs grow in the turquoise waters encompassing the Florida Keys, Carysfort Reef is the single most dangerous tract of coral in the chain.
Posted: Friday, April 06, 2012 12:00 AM EDT
These cannons are found on Lignumvitae Key.
A Key Largo high school student has successfully documented 160 anchors and cannons along a 200-mile stretch of U.S. 1, creating possibly the most comprehensive documentation of topside maritime artifacts in the Florida Keys. The roadside artifacts, salvaged decades ago from the waters of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, provide an opportunity for visitors to appreciate the Keys’ rich maritime history without getting wet while highlighting the importance of conservation.
Posted: Saturday, September 17, 2011 07:00 AM EDT
Some of the elkhorn at Molasses Reef. (Photo by Tim Grollimund)
The local charter trade refers to Molasses Reef as the aquarium. The mix of sponges, corals, and limestone substrate create a massive, brilliantly designed underwater complex. A spur-and-groove reef formation, it is festooned with intricately designed hard corals, sponges shaped like barrels and vases, and supple soft corals — brilliant purple sea fans and delicate sea whips. The nooks and crannies attract tropical fish like wildflowers draw honeybees.
Posted: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 11:00 AM EDT
A sketch shows the mooring buoys and wreck site at Pickles Reef.
Snorkeling into History: Pickles Reef
No gherkins, but lost barrels might have given reef its name
One thing makes this small spur and groove reef growing approximately two miles off the coast of Tavernier in the Upper Keys different from every other reef in the system — pickle barrels.
Posted - Friday, September 23, 2011 10:58 AM EDT
Middle Keys diver and photographer Carmen Powers took to the air to get this shot of Sombrero Reef, which writer Brad Bertelli profiles in the latest installment of his Snorkeling into History series.
snorkeling into history
Sublime Sombrero
There is a fiesta going on beneath the turquoise surface of the Atlantic 3.5 miles east of Marathon’s Boot Key Harbor. Sandy grooves mark the floor like white lines on an asphalt parking lot. In between, walls of limestone substrate rise from the floor like great spurs. The spurs of limestone substrate rise for 5, 10 and 15 feet, and are carpeted with elegant sea fans, mounds of star corals, brain corals and pillar corals, as well as fire coral and sponges. To top the reefs off, elkhorn corals grow from the edges like great horned crowns.
Posted - Saturday, September 10, 2011 11:00 AM EDT
Irving Eyster, right, next to his wife Jeane, and other dignitaries wield shovels during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Irving R. Eyster Museum of Florida Keys History Monday at the Islander Resort in Islamorada. Eyster, a Keys historian who has lived in Islamorada for almost 60 years, has a cache of thousands of artifacts and materials slated to fill the museum that is scheduled to open in the spring of 2012.
(Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau)
Historian’s vision of a museum nearing reality in Islamorada
When Irving Eyster was about 5 years old, he opened his first museum, in the attic of his parents’ Indiana home. He took the keepsakes he’d collected on a recent family trip to Florida, carefully organized them and unveiled them for study by his young friends.
Posted - Friday, September 02, 2011 11:00 AM EDT
Resort seeks permit for convention, museum facility
The five-member Islamorada Village Council next Thursday is expected to approve a plan to build a convention center with space for a museum honoring local historian Irving Eyster.
Posted - Friday, May 20, 2011 11:00 AM EDT
The William J. Krome home and P.L. Wilson home around 1912 in Islamorada, on the bay shore at the end of DeLeon Avenue. They were destroyed in the 1935 hurricane.
PIONEER FAMILY
History program to focus on Krome
In the 1990s, my wife Mary Lou and I met Bill and Phoebe Krome through her sister, Meg Mabbs of Plantation Key. Many meetings took place afterwards, one being the making of an interview on Feb. 28, 1997 at their home in Homestead.
Posted - Friday, May 06, 2011 11:00 AM EDT
