The farming century is the island's least-remembered chapter. Through the late 1800s and early 1900s, Key Largo grew pineapples and key limes for northern markets, and mule wagons hauled the crop to packing houses by the landings. The little settlement at the island's heart went by Rock Harbor — a name that would last until Hollywood intervened. Hurricanes, competition, and blight wound the plantations down, but the key lime never left the Keys; it just moved from the groves into the pie.
The island's greatest treasure was underwater all along. Off Key Largo runs the Florida Reef — the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States and among the largest reef systems on Earth. In 1960, after years of alarm at coral looting, the state created John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park — the first undersea park in the United States, named for the Miami editor who fought for it. Since 1965 the park's emblem has been the bronze Christ of the Abyss, standing in twenty-five feet of water off Key Largo Dry Rocks with arms raised toward the surface light.
Why People Visit Key Largo Florida
- Snorkel or dive John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park — America's first undersea park — by glass-bottom boat, snorkel tour, or scuba charter.
- Descend to the Christ of the Abyss off Key Largo Dry Rocks, or dive Molasses Reef and the wrecks beyond.
- Ride the actual African Queen — the 1912 steam launch from the 1951 film — on a canal cruise.
- Sleep underwater at Jules' Undersea Lodge, the world's first underwater hotel.
- Walk the hardwood hammock at Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, and visit the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center.
- Kayak the mangroves into Florida Bay, or day-trip west to Everglades National Park.
- End every day the Keys way: a sunset cruise and a slice of key lime pie.
