You can easily recognize a path (often a former road)

So many keys so many names. The 100-mile Overseas Highway from Key Largo to Key West is well-marked so that you know the mile marker (mm) of where you are, which also tells you how many miles to mile 0 at Key West. Marathon covers quite a few miles, with the most bustling section centered between mm45 to mm53- ish.

Heading south, the next last traffic light after Marathon is on Big Pine near mm30 where you turn for No Name Key and for the Winn Dixie Shopping Center. South of Big Pine you come to Summerland Key, then Cudjoe followed by Sugarloaf. Oh you may find a few tiny ones in between but those are the ones worth mentioning and the ones where we explored by bike (Russ), foot and car.

Why did the ibis cross the road?

The Keys have plenty of housing developments that never developed and when you find them, they make for a good walk or bike around.

His friends were partying on the other side

A Key deer. Smaller than the usual white-tailed ones you see and protected here in the Keys

Young Little Blue Heron hangs out with the Ibis

Mama Little Blue Heron alerts as we walk by

Or how about a gigantic bat house with no bats? Another development never consummated. Click here for a good overview of Perky’s Bat House. Richter Perky was a developer from Denver who owned a fishing resort on Lower Sugarloaf Key where millions of mosquitos managed to put the kibosh on its success. Too bad the bat house, which had success in other parts of the country, did not have the amenities needed for Florida Keys bats.

Sitting at the end of a tiny cul-du-sac, all alone and bat-less

You can get an idea of its height- at least 30-40ft- not counting the huge osprey nest

The interior. Really an amazing structure with room for thousands of bats

We ventured out on Cudjoe, on the north (bay) side of Rte 1  (Overseas Highway) and hunted down, with the help of a tip, Google Earth and luck, a path that would lead all the way out. Obviously a bulldozed road never paved, it was a decent walk shortened by water taking over a low section.

A handful of tiny crabs inhabited the barely 2 inches of water

What’s with all these forts? Even we are beginning to think forts are today’s pharmacies- every town has one or two or more! Take this one; never, ever used. Looks it too; unscathed and reasonably pristine as forts go. Built during the Civil War, Fort East Martello is small in size (likely due to not ever being completed); its few cannons now sit at Fort Taylor a few miles west and the structure is practically overshadowed by the Key West International Airport.

The fort roof, KW Intn’l Airport and Moi

While Key West remained a Union-controlled island during the Civil War, the majority of Key West citizens supported the Confederacy. With such a rift, it is perhaps surprising that no battles took place on or around the island. Having no use for the Fort once the war was drawing to a close, Fort East Martello was abandoned in its unfinished state by the Army.

Fortunately, sturdy old buildings with character and history make perfect museums and venues for art shows. In 1950, the Key West Art & Historical Society, with its own army of volunteers, cleared away years of debris and dust to open Fort East Martello as its first museum. With continued community support, the Society restored this national landmark in accordance with its original 1860s design. Today, visitors can explore the preserved battlement’s collection of relics from the Civil War, learn about the wrecking and cigar-manufacturing industries which shaped the Florida Keys, view the unique folk art of Mario Sanchez and other local sculptors.

For some reason this seemed familiar

Desk where those with talent would hand roll cigars

Each visitor receives a personal overview of the museum’s displays and layout. The timeframe of most of the small exhibits ranges from early-mid 1800s to early 1900s. I’m pretty sure the most popular, and the draw for many visitors, including us, is Robert the Doll. This thing is scary; over 2 ft tall, he belonged to Otto Roberts who as young children do, attributed all sorts of childhood shenanigans to his doll, “Robert did it.”

The doll’s face is very worn but the plaque described it originally as “clown-like”; that’s enough for me to think “scary”. We did as instructed and politely asked Robert if we could take his picture. Hey, the nearby screen scrolled letter after letter apologizing to Robert for not asking, then detailing the bad stuff that soon occurred upon returning home. Oh no, not going to step into bad juju; twelve later days all remains well.

Russ agreed to ask nicely if Robert was OK with us taking his picture

Doll house shows the interior of a Key West home in the mid 1850s

1940s -the early years of diving suits and air pump to the left

This Cuban chug washed up just a few years ago. Hard to picture it ever being seaworthy for 90miles

Multihull Cuban transport- probably washed up in Dry Tortuga area

Smather’s Beach is across the way and we knew it was the best and certainly the largest beach in Key West. In 2007 we stayed at the Sheraton across from the beach. We had time to kill before heading to dinner at Kaya’s Island Eats (another top rated dining spot), so a beach walk seemed like a great idea and something we’d hardly been able to do in the Keys.

Walked by what looked to be a gorgeous setup for a beach wedding