History of South Key Largo
- Christ Statue in Key Largo
- Key Largo Movie Poster 1948
The Bahamas and Bimini were populated by Lucayan Indians when the Spanish arrived. They soon enslaved them to work in the mines of Hispaniola, today’s Dominican Republic and Haiti, exterminating the population. Bimini was northwest of the route first taken by Columbus in 1492 but was likely visited by Ponce de León during his first expedition to Florida in 1513. While de Leon was given credit for discovering Florida in 1513 he did not, a number of earlier maps clearly show the Florida peninsula. He did however name it “La Florida.” Reports of him looking for the Fountain of Youth in Bimini are not supported by the historical record.
Pirates were very real in the Bahamas and in the early 1700s a large community of them took over Nassau from the British. They attacked ships of any nation, but the biggest prize was Spanish galleons using the Gulf Stream off Bimini to return to Spain, laden with treasure from the New World. Pirates no doubt used the shallow waters around Bimini to lie in wait for passing ships.
Wreckers made their living salvaging cargo from ships that sank on the reefs surrounding Bimini. The five founding families of Bimini were licensed wreckers in 1834. This date coincides with British emancipation of slaves in the Bahamas; their descendants make up most of today’s population. Early residents eventually became known as Conchs, making their living off the sea by fishing, sponging, and wrecking. For generations wrecking was one of the few profitable endeavors in The Bahamas but lighthouses soon made wrecks less common. Gun Cay Light was built in 1836 south of Bimini, and Great Isaac Lighthouse in 1859 on a little island twenty miles north of Bimini, which stands more than 150 feet tall, making it one of the tallest in The Bahamas.
The country struggled financially but during the American Civil War the south used the “neutral” British Bahamas to trade cotton for European guns and supplies, which were run past the Union blockade into southern ports. This provided some prosperity. Good times returned during American Prohibition (1920–1933) when liquor was legal in the Bahamas. Bimini and nearby Gun Cay and Cat Cay were waypoints where schooners laden with liquor would anchor, acting as open warehouses for the American rum-runners. The concrete shipwreck seen today south of Bimini, the Sapona, was used to store liquor but was wrecked by a hurricane in 1926 along with the original Bimini Bay Rod and Gun Club which included a large hotel and casino.
Chalk’s Flying Service began flying the Bimini route from Miami in 1919, and service continued until a tragic crash in 2005 killed a number of Bimini residents and doomed what was the world’s oldest airline of the time. Just a year later in 2006 the ‘Compleat’ Angler Hotel burned down, an iconic Bimini landmark that had hosted Ernest Hemingway as he fished for huge Blue Fin tuna that were once abundant.
Today’s Bimini is still host to fisherman and gamblers alike!
To learn more about history of Bimini and other islands in the Bahamas, check out A History of The Bahamas Through Maps. The book can be purchased online at this website. For all questions, please call us at 239-963-3497.
People ask how I do it with a busy career in Ocean Engineering and the answer is two fold. First is perseverance; I often write between 4 and 8 AM before interruptions start, it's when I do my best work. Second is help; Keys co-authors Brian Schmitt and archaeologist Bob Carr are world experts on the chapters they wrote, I couldn't have done it without them. Finally my experienced staff who turn my ideas into exhibits and my writing into pleasant narrative, it's not easy to make history fun for most people to read.
I also get asked why we do it, that answer varies. My first book Naples Waterfront – Changes in Time was inspired by older clients who built the waterfront communities near my home. They were dying out and over time came to trust me with their old stories, maps and photographs. One old fella had shared rare historical insight with me and the next time I saw him he asked "how's your book coming?" I was embarrassed with little progress to show but when he later died there was no longer a choice. Seven years later the book was published, yep, 7!
The Naples book was more successful than I could have imagined and a Bahamian friend asked if I could do one for his country. I'd worked there for many years and had read every history book I could get my hands on. We'd also made popular maps of the Bahamas, one hangs in U.S. Customs. Five years later A History of The Bahamas Through Maps was born, yep, 5.
The Keys book began when my friend Brian Schmitt half jokingly suggested my next should be on the Keys, he liked the Bahamas. I said sure, also in jest, knowing what a gargantuan task that would be. Brian and I both collect antique maps and his famous 1591 version of Florida is on the Naples book cover. His map collection is much better than mine, world class in fact. When he agreed to do the mapping chapter our jokes became reality and yet another book was born, but this time not without drama.
While we worked on the Keys I was asked to speak at the annual Miami Map Fair, the largest antique map show in the world. Since the Keys book was due out about the same time as the Fair I suggested we announce something featured in the book, that Ponce de Leon did not discover Florida in 1513 as is written. There are Ponce de Leon streets, monuments and school book references, so we were being bold to challenge Florida history. Our proof lies in the fact a half dozen maps pre-dating 1513 show the Florida peninsula. Some of these are featured in the Keys book so we needed it for back up at the Map Fair if I was to make the statement.
The drama to deliver the book on time started when our printer suddenly passed away over Christmas in Canada. His widow said they couldn't honor the deadline, the book wouldn't be done on schedule.
Soon I was in Toronto working with the widow to help get it done since hints of our revisionary history statement had already been released to the press. I visited the giant printing press and met the employees who were already working on the book, they were great. First lesson, if the factory is behind schedule, go there. The possibility of meeting the deadline emerged but there was another critical step.
Nashville has one of the few facilities in America that can produce a binding that allows a book to lay flat when opened. This was needed for our map overlays, a first for the Keys.
Suddenly I was in Nashville meeting the employees of the bindery. They had just started working on our piece, of course, refer to First lesson. Spending a few days there moved the process along since I could answer questions quickly, but the due date was fast approaching with an outcome still uncertain. Only after a second trip to Nashville a couple weeks later did I finally hold copies of the book in hand for the Miami press conference. The second trip took driving 2,000 miles in four days, a feat I hadn't done since my 20s. My reward was falling in love with Nashville's incredible music scene with one too many Titos & Tonics. My punishment was driving home the next day.
That's the story of how we made the Keys book, it arrived just in time for COVID-19 to shut down of the Map Fair. We still had the press conference which was attended by a single Miami Herald reporter and photographer. They did a really nice article, but our book launch didn’t get the momentum we hoped for due to a worldwide struggle with the pandemic.
The Keys History book is our best work yet and word is slowly getting out with good reviews. It will, however, likely be my last non-fiction since taking years to produce them sucks the life right out of you. I'm now working on a historical fiction now with wild stories to tell, we'll see how that goes.
You can find more information about the Keys book on this website.
Todd Turrell
First inhabited by Lucayan Indians, Spanish explorers came upon the island in the late 1400s and by the early 1500s had enslaved them to perish in the silver and gold mines of Hispaniola (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
In 1648 colonization of The Bahamas began on the north shore of Eleuthera where the “Eleutheran Adventurers” came from Bermuda with religious freedom as the driving force. They named the island “Eleutheria” after the Greek word for Freedom. The colonists survived on fish, turtle, conch and trade goods they collected from the sea including dye woods, ambergris from whales and items salvaged from wrecks along the coast. They soon spread out to start today’s settlements in Spanish Wells and Harbour Island.
The late 1700s saw an influx of British Loyalists who were fleeing the new United States of America after losing the Revolutionary War where they had remained loyal to King George. The Loyalists started plantations with the slaves they brought but failed to recreate the wealth they had in America and most eventually left, leaving their slaves behind. Eventually pineapples became the top crop of Eleuthera and by the mid-1800s exports to England and the United States soared. More than 200 sloops and schooners would sail every morning from Harbour Island to north Eleuthera where plantations of pineapples fed the international market. In 1872, 1.5 million pineapples were shipped from Harbour Island alone.
In the 1950s an auxiliary U.S. Air Force base and missile tracking station opened on Eleuthera, part of several such bases in the Bahamas. The 1960s and ‘70s were grand days with Hatchet Bay Farm producing milk and eggs while second homes were being built on Harbour Island, Windermere and in other areas. The Cotton Bay Club had a golf course, as did Cape Eleuthera, with movie stars and celebrities flown in to entertain. The French Leave Club (later renamed Club Med) and a large Italian resort attracted French and Italian tourists along with the English and a growing American crowd. Juan Trippe, president of Pan Am Airlines, expanded Rock Sound’s airport to accommodate jets from New York and Miami. Planes from England, France and Italy could also come directly into Eleuthera. Princess Diana and Prince Charles vacationed on Windermere with other royalty and celebrities, playboys and jet setters. Eleuthera was the place to be.
Unfortunately, things began to decline, and by the early 1970s many of clubs closed. By late ‘70s drug smuggling had become a problem because of the Bahamas close proximity to the U.S. Today smuggling in the Bahamas has largely subsided and Eleuthera is a safe place to be.
There are any small resorts and guest houses in Eleuthera to choose from, endless miles of white and pink beaches to walk upon, and plenty of kind natives to help you enjoy the endless activities on the island and around the sea.
To learn more about history of Eleuthera and other islands in the Bahamas, check out A History of The Bahamas Through Maps. The book and custom map of Eleuthera can be purchased online at this website. Questions? Please call us at 239-963-3497.