 Plantation Key, as seen from the Snake Creek drawbridge looking north. | |
  Plantation Key Plantation Key Show map of Florida Plantation Key Plantation Key (Caribbean) Show map of Caribbean | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gulf of Mexico |
| Coordinates | 24°59′04″N80°33′40″W / 24.9844°N 80.5611°W /24.9844; -80.5611 |
| Archipelago | Florida Keys |
| Adjacent to | Florida Straits |
| Administration | |
| State | Florida |
| County | Monroe |
Plantation Key is an island inMonroe County,Florida,United States. It is located in the upperFlorida Keys onU.S. 1 (or theOverseas Highway), betweenKey Largo andWindley Key.
All of the key is within the Village ofIslamorada as of November 4, 1997, when it was incorporated.
Plantation Key is located at24°58′33″N80°33′08″W / 24.97583°N 80.55222°W /24.97583; -80.55222.[1] It is separated fromKey Largo byTavernier Creek (Mile Marker 91.0) at its Northeast end, and fromWindley Key by Snake Creek (Mile Marker 85.5) at its Southwest end.[2]
Plantation Key was inhabited byNative Americans at least 1,000 years beforeEuropean contact with theAmericas. A largemound was formerly located towards the northeastern end of the key. Artifacts removed from the mound were dated to A.D. 500 to 700. The mound was leveled in 1958 to allow development of a real estate subdivision.
Immigrants from theBahamas began settling on Plantation Key in the middle of the 19th century. Two families were recorded on the key in the 1870 census. Several more families had moved to the key by 1880. the settlers raisedcoconuts andpineapples. The pineapples were shipped byschooner to northernU. S. ports such asBaltimore andNew York City.
The completion of theOverseas Railroad, which ran the length of Plantation Key, destroyed the agricultural economy of the island. TheFlorida East Coast Railway began shipping pineapples fromCuba at such low prices that the growers in the Keys could not compete.Prohibition brought new industry to Plantation Key, however, as the close proximity of the Florida Keys to the Bahamas made the keys, including Plantation Key, convenient landing places forbootleggers.[3]
Before theFlagler railway crews filled Little Snake Creek, which crossed at a point around today's Treasure Harbor, the southwest end of Plantation Key was a separate island known as Snake Creek Key. Plantation Key is the site of a number of prehistoric Indian sites and mounds, most of which have been destroyed by development. An early settlement on the oceanside was known as Pearl City for a large conch pearl found by John Lowe.[4]
It is within theMonroe County School District.
Plantation Key Elementary/Middle School (serving theIslamorada area[5]) andCoral Shores High School (serving the upper Florida Keys from Islamorada toKey Largo) are located on Plantation Key.[6]
