Florida Keys

Florida Keys are an archipelago of about 1700 islands in the southeast United States. Beginning with the Florida peninsula, it goes on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. More than 95 percent of the land area lies in Monroe County, but a small portion extends northeast into Miami-Dade County. The total land area is 355.6 km² (137.3 sq mi). The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County, which comprises a section on the mainland that is almost utterly in Everglades National Park.

Upper keys

Soldier Key
Boca Chita Key
Sands Key
Elliott Key
Adams Key
Reid Key
Totten Key
Old Rhodes Key
Key Largo
Plantation Key
Windley Key
Upper Matecumbe Key
Lignumvitae Key
Lower Matecumbe Key


Middle keys

Craig Key
Fiesta Key
Long Key
Conch Key
Duck Key
Grassy Key
Crawl Key
Long Point Key
Fat Deer Key
Key Vaca
Boot Key
Knight's Key
Pigeon Key


Lower keys

Little Duck Key
Missouri Key
Ohio Key
Bahia Honda Key
West Summerland Key
No Name Key
Big Pine Key
Little Torch Key
Middle Torch Key
Big Torch Key
Ramrod Key
Summerland Key
Knockemdown Key
Cudjoe Key
Sugarloaf Key
Park Key
Lower Sugarloaf Key
Shark Key
Geiger Key
Big Coppitt Key
East Rockland Key
Rockland Key
Boca Chica Key
Key Haven
Stock Island
Key West

Outlying islands

Marquesas Keys
Dry Tortugas

You can roam around the Keys by water. However, this altered with the achievement of Henry Flagler's Overseas Railway in the early 1910s. Flagler was a major developer of Florida's Atlantic coast. He extended his Florida East Coast Railway down to Key West with an ambitious series of over-sea railroad trestles.

A part of the Keys' laid-back atmosphere is the "hurricane bravado". There you will find separatist "Conch Republic" attitude. Here life is easygoing, with the main commerce being tourism and fishing. Ecotourism is also a major part of this, with many visitors scuba diving in the area's protected waters. Key West has long been noted as a gay vacation destination, and is home to the United States' first Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.