The saga of the Keys, like the livelihoods of its inhabitants, tethers itself first, foremost, and forever to the sea. Our fragile strand of coral beads, which arcs southwest from the US mainland to within 100 miles of Cuba, has been for eons at the mercy of the elements. Nature determined, more than humans ever did, the course of our history. That is, until one man accomplished what natural forces could not: He connected the islands to each other and to the mainland US.
We will chronicle the Florida Keys, therefore, as a man-made triptych, highlighting the eras before, during, and after Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railroad Extension refashioned the subsequent history of the region.