| The
north
end
of
Key
Largo,
consisting
of
Ocean
Reef
and
The
Angler's
Club,
is
generally
thought
of
as
a
relatively
new
community.
However,
John
Whalton
had
a
farm
along
the
Atlantic
coast
on
north
Key
Largo,
while
manning
the
lightships
Caesar
[1826-30]
and
Florida
[1830-37].
This
was
before
the
construction
of
the
Carysfort
Lighthouse
in
1852.
Whalton
owned
a
house
in
Key
West,
but
on
occasion
would
bring
his
family
to
Key
Largo.
He
had
a
garden
and
a
building
on
the
north
Key
Largo
Atlantic
shore,
but
it
appears
that
he
and
his
family
stayed
aboard-ship.
The
location
of
the
lightship
is
thought
to
be
in
the
area
of
Turtle
Harbor.
When
Captain
Whalton
was
coming
ashore
in
June
1837,
Indians
killed
him.
His
surviving
family
was
taken
to
Indian
Key
and
returned
to
Key
West.
Various
news
releases
provide
this
information
as
it
received
considerable
attention
during
the
Second
Seminole
War
(1835-1842).
From
the
wrecking
court
records
of
the
ship
Quebec
dated
26
June
1848,
we
have
a
hint
that
there
were
people
living
on
Key
Largo
at
that
time.
Thomas
Bennett
of
the
wrecking
sloop
Empire
testified,
".
.
.
he
sent
off
by
George
Richards,
carpenter
of
the
sloop,
17
small
(not
readable)
rocking
chairs
and
two
paintings
(all
that
he
had)
on
shore
to
be
stored
in
a
house
on
Key
Largo
which
is
unoccupied.
.
."
Passersby
in
ships
made
mention
of
a
settlement
on
Key
Largo
in
the
mid-1800s,
however
no
specifics.
There
are
a
few
references
to
a
late
1800s
settlement
at
High
Mangrove
Point,
which
is
a
point
of
land
on
the
ocean
side
just
south
of
present-day
Ocean
Reef.
There
are
no
specific
facts
concerning
this
settlement,
as
there
are
about
Basin
Hills,
which
was
a
little
farther
south.
Basin
Hills
existed
in
the
same
period
as
did
Newport,
Planter
and
Matecumbe.
Its
religious
needs
were
served
by
the
same
itinerant
Methodist
ministers
who
served
these
communities
on
a
weekly
basis.
There
are
two
sources
of
material
referring
to
a
community
named
Red
Bird
City.
The
first
source
is
a
Miami
Herald
newspaper
article
of
a
Pinder
family
fishing,
farming
and
collecting
red
birds
on
Key
Largo.
The
article
is
of
a
Ridley
Curtis
Pinder
whose
father
had
four
sisters
married
to
other
Pinders
on
Key
Largo.
The
second
source
of
the
existence
of
Red
Bird
City
is
written
account
of
Benjamin
Russell
by
his
great
granddaughter,
Marian
L.
Thompson,
in
collaboration
with
her
mother,
Elizabeth
Page,
and
grandmother,
Marian
Russell.
Research
shows
a
Benjamin
A.
Russell
did
homestead
on
northern
Key
Largo
in
1883
and
the
family
is
found
in
the
1885
census.
Benjamin
is
47
years
old
and
his
wife
Ester
is
39
and
have
five
children:
William
W.
(17),
Nellie
B.
(11),
Ella
M.
(8),
Alice
G.
(6)
and
Marian
L.
(1).
There
is
postal
data
of
a
settlement
named
Aiken
that
may
have
existed
on
North
Key
Largo
around
1895.
I
wish
to
hear
from
any
reader
who
could
collaborate
this
early
settlement.
Throughout
the
Keys,
there
were
scattered
settlements
even
before
the
principal
population
movement
that
occurred
when
Florida
became
a
U.S.
Territory
in
1821.
Throughout
the
1800s
there
was
plenty
of
Florida
land
seemingly
un-owned.
With
the
official
surveying
of
the
Keys
in
1872,
land
could
then
be
confidently
identified,
purchased
and
resold.
For
example,
Indian
Key
was
bought
and
resold
many
times
in
the
early
1800s,
but
was
never
legally
owned
by
any
of
the
buyers
and
sellers
until
1910.
One
of
these
first
North
Key
Largo
land
buyers
was
Samuel
S.
Lowe
who
purchased
and
homesteaded
about
900
acres
of
land
in
the
area
of
the
old
missile
site
on
CR-905.
The
1880
census
reveals
a
Samuel
Lowe,
white,
male,
age
40,
occupation
“farmer”
lived
on
Key
Largo,
Florida.
He
lived
there
with
his
wife,
Euphemia,
age
36,
a
son
Benjamin,
age
15,
occupation
“farm
laborer”
and
two
other
younger
children.
I
conclude
that
owning
900
acres
qualify
Samuel
Lowe
as
a
serious
farmer.
Most
historians
conclude
that
pineapples
were
the
crop
of
choice
in
the
late
1800s
for
Upper
Keys
farmers.
It
is
estimated
that
85%
of
the
pineapples
for
the
U.S.
came
from
the
Upper
Keys.
If
pineapples
was
the
crop
of
Mr.
Lowe,
he
undoubtedly
used
the
slash
and
burn
method
to
perpetuate
his
crops.
Pineapples
primarily
grew
in
the
leaf
mold
generated
by
millenniums
of
native
forests.
Based
of
shipping
information
available
and
the
soil
condition,
new
land
had
had
to
be
slashed
and
burned
every
three
to
four
years;
therefore,
one
can
assume
considerable
land
was
cleared.
The
1890
U.S.
census
for
Florida
was
accidentally
burned;
therefore,
it
cannot
be
determined
whether
Samuel
Lowe
was
still
here
in
1890.
He
is
not
listed
in
the
1900
census.
A
later
North
Key
Largo
land
buyer
was
Thomas
Lowe
Sr.
from
the
Bahamas,
who
purchased
about
$400
worth
of
land
near
High
Mangrove
Hammock.
Thomas
Lowe
is
found
in
the
1910
census.
We
have
never
found
a
recorded
deed
for
his
land;
however,
it
is
said
to
have
bordered
36.5
acres
recorded
as
Lot
5
of
Section
32
of
TS59S,
R41E,
which
were
purchased
in
1886
by
James
Roberts.
The
story
is
that
Lowe
gave
Pumpkin
Key
its
name
because
he
could
grow
pumpkins
there,
since
there
were
no
rodents
to
eat
his
crops.
Tom
Lowe
and
his
son,
Matt,
made
their
living
by
catching
fish
and
turtles,
harvesting
sponges
and
farming
extensively
pumpkins,
melons
and
raising
bees.
It
was
not
long
before
others
moved
in
and
settled.
Flagler
brought
the
railroad
to
Miami
in
1896
and
this
brought
new
settlers
and
speculators
to
the
Miami
area.
Soon
Tom
and
Matt
Lowe,
and
James
Roberts
were
surrounded
by
privately
owned
land.
C.
E.
Chillingsworth,
an
attorney,
purchased
the
40
acres
that
are
the
site
of
the
today's
Angler's
Club.
The
land
was
resold
in
1912
to
a
Mr.
W.
A.
Scott
from
Fargo,
North
Dakota.
Mr.
Scott
was
serious
about
his
fishing
and
constructed
a
first
class
two-story
coral
rock
house.
Life
was
much
the
same
on
North
Key
Largo
as
on
the
rest
of
the
Upper
Keys,
except
that
they
could
boat
more
easily
to
Cutler,
Coconut
Grove
and
Miami.
Goods
could
be
purchased,
sold
or
traded
without
involving
a
major
voyage.
Fresh
water
was
caught
and
stored
in
cisterns
and
replenished
from
these
communities
during
water
shortages,
using
50-gallon
wooden
whiskey
barrels.
Services
from
the
mainland
were
also
provided
by
passing
sailboats
traveling
up
and
down
Hawk
Channel.
A
homemade
boat
named
Dispatch
would
row
out
to
meet
the
passing
ships.
In
1817
an
American
Merchantman
named
Despatch
(sic)
sank
on
Carysfort
Reef
while
en
route
to
Charleston.
The
use
of
the
name
Dispatch
is
prevalent
in
the
area.
There
were
no
schools,
stores,
post
offices,
or
doctors
on
North
Key
Largo
at
that
time.
The
railroad
changed
people's
lives
in
the
Keys,
as
well
as
everywhere
else
in
east
Florida.
Miami
grew
fast
and
by
1908
routine
rail
service
was
completed
as
far
as
Marathon.
Monroe
County
funded
a
meager
road
on
Key
Largo
in
1917
with
a
$100,000
bond
issue
and
by
1927
had
built
the
Card
Sound
Road
with
a
wooden
swing
bridge
to
allow
boat
traffic
to
pass.
By
the
following
year,
State
Road
4A
was
officially
completed
and
one
could
drive
to
Key
West
by
auto
by
using
the
road
and
two
ferries.
The
original
road
bumped
across
a
series
of
wooden
bridges
from
the
east
side
of
Card
Sound
and
to
the
south
about
where
the
old
missile
site
is
located.
Later,
large
amounts
of
explosives
were
required
to
build
roads,
canals
and
landfills
in
South
Florida.
Regular
ships
routinely
ran
aground,
sunk,
or
otherwise
blocked
the
narrow
channel
into
the
Port
of
Miami.
To
prevent
a
dynamite
laden
ship
from
blocking
the
Miami
harbor,
a
pier
was
built
out
into
the
Atlantic
just
below
present-day
Ocean
Reef
for
unloading
this
type
of
cargo.
Explosives
were
also
exported
from
this
pier
until
an
agreement
was
made
with
the
DuPont
Corporation
to
use
its
licensed
dock
near
Port
St.
Lucie.
The
Key
Largo
pier
became
known
as
"Dynamite
Docks"
and
later
became
the
site
of
drug
and
alien-smuggling
operations.
Today,
it
is
administered
by
the
Florida
Department
of
Environmental
Protection.
The
old
pier
has
been
torn
out
and
the
natural
water
circulation
restored.
By
the
time
of
World
War
I,
most
of
the
land
was
deeded,
but
there
was
no
significant
building.
Early
North
Key
Largo
property
owners
were
Lowes,
Roberts,
Chillingsworths,
Scotts,
Porters,
Grahams,
Speers,
Palmers,
Hannahs,
Pierces
and
others.
Still,
much
of
the
land
had
been
deeded
to
the
Jacksonville,
Tampa,
Key
West
Railway
Company
and
the
Blue
Springs,
Orange
City
and
Atlantic
Railroad
Company
by
the
Swamplands
Act
of
1850.
This
land
was
given
to
the
two
companies
to
entice
them
to
build
railroads
in
north
Florida.
In
the
area
of
the
Speers'
property
came
a
group
of
North
Dakota
land
buyers.
Research
is
difficult
but
perhaps
not
the
first,
a
fisherman,
Jack
Graham,
appears
to
entice
other
North
Dakota
buyers
to
group
anound
Township
59,
Range
40,
sections
12
and
13.
The
first
obvious
manifestation
was
when
a
W.A.
Scott
of
Fargo,
North
Dakota
build
a
very
nice
two-story
coral
rock
house.
NORTH
KEY
LARGO
HISTORY
CONTINUED
|
