A collection of stories of people and events in the Florida Keys extending from the time the Keys were first occupied by humans, through the Second Seminole War, the coming of the Overseas Railway, and finally the opening of the first Overseas Highway in 1927. The tales tell of American Indians, Cubans, Bahamians, New Englanders, and of fishing, turtling, shipwreck salvaging, warring, and of course dealing with heat and mosquitoes. John Viele's three volumes, The Florida Keys, have been Keys bestsellers for years. Now he presents a fascinating new batch of historical vignettes.
“Nikki Beare came with her family to live on the Keys. Her interest in the Keys and its history made her become a real part of the Conchs, but more in the nature of “grafted on stock”. From the very beginning, she endeared herself to all with whom she came in contact. She enjoyed hearing the Old Timers recount the many tales of the sea, the ships, the islands, and the brave men who spent so much of their lives in the task of island hopping with passengers, freight, and mail.”—C. Marvin Thompson In her book, Pirates Pineapples and People, which was first published in 1961, Nikki Beare tells of the history of the Upper Florida Keys—the history of a very unique area. “It is a part of the United States that has very few written records. The Upper Keys have had a tremendous and fabulous history from earliest times. “Over the centuries, any records that were written (very few) have been lost...washed away in the numerous hurricanes that touched the coral shores. By poking around in old book stores, libraries, reading old newspapers, writing to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., reading letters written by historians, a basis for fact has been established. What cannot be found on paper is in the memories of the old-timers...Some are tales handed down from one generation to another...others are true stories, as close as possible to actual happenstance without actual records to verify.”—Nikki Beare
From the wreck of the USS Alligator to the mystery of the marooned dolphins, It Happened in the Florida Keys looks at intriguing people and episodes from the history of this island chain. Discover why the Key Largo dive community decided to have the largest ship in the world ever to be intentionally sunk deposited six miles offshore the Florida Keys. Read about the incredible discovery of a sunken seventeenth-century Spanish galleon’s treasure worth an estimated $450 million. Learn how some poultry running wild wreaked havoc on the city of Key West, and sparked the emotionally charged “chicken wars”. Relive three fascinating summers when Keys residents rubbed elbows with Hollywood stars as their favorite haunts were transformed into fictional sets for a popular television series.
The Florida Keys have witnessed all kinds of historical events, from the dramatic and the outrageous to the tragic and the comic. Join the authors as they delve into tales of treasure hunters, developers, exotic dancers, determined preservationists and more from the colorful history of the Florida Keys.
The Straits of Florida is a 110-mile sea passage between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean bordered on the northern side by the Florida Keys and the Florida Reef. In its waters, along the reef, and on desolate keys, thousands of men and women have died in shipwrecks, attacks by natives, sea battles, and pirate boardings. Few of their stories have survived, but those that have tell gripping tales of their struggles against the perils of the sea and the onslaughts of men. This book presents a selection of such stories during the age of sail from the time Spanish navigators discovered the Straits to the end of the Second Seminole War in 1842. Excerpted from ships' logs, captains' diaries, court-martial transcripts, and newspaper accounts, the stories in this volume—a companion to The Florida Keys, Volume 1: A History of the Pioneers—will make you glad you live in a modern world. Read harrowing tales of the cruelty and torture inflicted on mariners at the hands of bloodthirsty pirates; of pistol and cannon battles between merchant ships and wayward privateers; and of the hardships endured by some of Florida's earliest settlers. Sprinkled with hand-drawn illustrations, photographs, and maps depicting the lay of the land during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this book presents a scholarly, historically accurate account of life on the Keys and in the perilous Straits of Florida during the age of sail. An index and extensive bibliography are included. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series
"Charlotte's Story is a spell-binding account of how a young couple manage to carve out a life for themselves on an isolated Florida Key in the mid-1930s. To survive without electricity, running water, or any other modern conveniences, they fall back on the ways of the pioneer Conch settlers. With her ever-resourceful husband Russ' guidance, city-bred Charlotte learns to cope with sandflies, mosquitoes, and scorpions; masters sculling a boat and extracting a conch from its shell; and discovers the "beach store" is a treasure trove of needed household items. Their island home is visited by an assortment of characters so strange no novelist could imagine them. Rum runners, drug smugglers, and "borrowers" threaten their lives and make off with their possessions. Border patrolmen and Conch spongers befriend them, naive campers and ne'er-do-well yacht ladies provide comic relief, and an old black man tells them his secret recipe for yarb medicine, a forerunner of Viagra. Residents of the Keys and visitors alike will be glued to this book as they follow Charlotte and Russ through one hair-raising adventure after another culminating with their struggles to survive the terrible Labor Day hurricane of 1935." -- John Viele, authior of The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers.
The vibrant Sanibel and Captiva Islands are ecological marvels compared to Florida's many overbuilt barrier islands. Development began with the construction of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse in 1884, when only the lighthouse keeper and assistant and their families lived on the island. Noted conservationist Jay N. "Ding" Darling led the charge in preserving the islands' wildlife and natural beauty from the greed of real estate speculators and land developers in the 1930s. Former presidents like Harry Truman and cabinet-level executives worked alongside Sanibel and Captiva residents, setting up preserves and wildlife refuges to guard the integrity of the islands' unique natural blessings, abundant wildlife and aquatic stores. Charles LeBuff and Betty Anholt review the evolution of the islands' conservation ethic and how it perseveres even today.
About the Book Yesterday Revealed the Florida Keys: Hubris of Pretension takes place amongst once described as the 'Emerald Isles' This novel weaves intrigue, suspense, history, and romance into a fast paced gem of a story. Conservation Officers Kip Greene and his live in girlfriend Suzy, as well as their close friend Teqe who studies Florida Keys antiquities, all become unwantedly embroiled in deaths to tourists, shady treasure hunters, wannabe drug dealers, a powerful Mexican drug cartel, local 'dirty' councilmen, and treasure from Spanish shipwrecks and an ex mob lawyer from New York City. About the Author This is Kerry's first novel in what will become a trilogy of Yesterday Revealed novels. Kerry has a degree in Geology, Geography, and Math at Central Michigan University. He has been married at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Key West, as well as extensive kayaking and camping out in the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge (FKNWR).
