Florida has an amazing number of beautiful and diverse state parks. Over the years, we have had the pleasure of visiting and often camping in various parks around the state. For the most part, the parks are well maintained, kept clean and renovated when needed. For a few years now, we have wanted to visit an offshore botanical park called Lignumvitae Key. It is located on the bayside of Lower Matecumbe Key. It is one of the highest keys at 5 meters above sea level, 280 acres and 3 miles in circumference. Look carefully at the photo below....there it is!
Along with its neighbor Indian Key, it has a colorful history. In 1760, Spanish records listed it as being covered with a good stand of timber and therefore named Cayo de la Lena or island of wood. Cayo/ Key translates as island around these parts. Indeed it was covered with mahogany, gumbo limbo and lignumvitae trees. Lignumvitae meaning tree of life.....Columbus thought a brew from this tree might cure syphillis. Lignumvitae wood is extremely dense and was later used to make the bearings on submarines. Through the years, this Key was settled by various families who planted coconuts and pineapples but didn't stay very long. Life on a Florida key at that time was quite difficult. The lack of fresh water and mosquitoes drove them away. In 1919, Lignumvitae Key was purchased by William Matheson, a wealthy industrialist. He had a coral rock house built for his full time manager. A windmill supplied power and a cistern collected rainwater running off the roof.
Notice the cistern on the right below and the pipes running down from the roof.
Matheson, himself, never lived on the Key. But he did introduce a variety of exotic plants and animals to Lignumvitae Key such as Angora goats, peacocks and 60 Galapogos tortoises. He also decorated the front lawn with 6 cannons recovered from the British warship, HMS Winchester which had run aground nearby in 1665. Remember....the Keys has a long history of salvaging off of ships in distress.
The interior of the house shows what it looked like in the early and mid 1900s. Although, the entire roof was blown off and the interior strewn all over the area when a hurricane struck in the 60s.
The Matheson family sold the property to 3 Miami tycoons in 1953 and the Key was managed by a very colorful couple named Charlotte and Russ Niedhauk. Charlotte and Russ chose to live a solitary life and fell in love with the Florida Keys in the early 1930s. They were caretakers on Elliott Key when the 1935 Labor Day hurricane ripped through this area, but spent the rest of their lives caretaking the Lignumvitae and Indian Keys. When they were too old to continue caring for these little islands, the State of Florida purchased both, and set about restoring and preserving them. Over the years, it has meant tearing out invasive species and reintroducing native trees and plants.
Friday morning under clear blue skies, John and I set out from the boat launch on Indian Key Fill to visit the Lignumvitae Preserve and Botanical Park. There was a 15 mph northeast wind that made the 1 mile stretch a bit of hard work.... Not impossible but not relaxing either. We had 3 wide and deep boat channels to cross but mostly the trip traversed salt water flats about 1 to 3 feet deep.
The park ranger welcomed us and we were able to walk about the wide yard and visit inside the coral rock house built by Matheson in 1919. We were impressed with the park ranger...he really knew his stuff and was very informative as well as friendly.
Over the past few days, we have been able to take several wonderful treks into the mangove creeks in this area of the Keys. We have also met a kayak guide couple who have written a few books about guiding in and around Florida. They are camping near us and it has been fun chatting with them about routes and launches. They lead overnight trips in the Keys, the Everglades, along the Calusa Blueway which is on the west coast. They also lead a 100 mile kayak trek from Key Largo to Key West. Their book, "Florida Keys, a Paddling Atlas", is a wealth of information. If you are interested, google their names, Bill and Mary Burnham, kayak guides. Just a note though.... I would prefer not to have to ever again sleep on the ground in a tent. So overnight trekking is not a possibility for me. I love sleeping in our little Casita....memory foam mattress...heavenly!
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