Long Key State Park

Long Key State Park
Long Key State Park
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Location	Monroe County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	Long Key, Florida
Coordinates	24°49′01″N 80°49′12″W / 24.81694°N 80.82000°W
Area	965 acres (3.91 km2)
Governing body	Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Long Key State Park is a 965-acre (3.91 km²)

Florida State Park located on Long Key, one of the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is at mile marker 67.5 on U.S. 1

, 67400 Overseas Highway.

History

Prehistoric coral reefs grew here over the course of millennia, when the sea level was over 20 feet (6.1 m) deeper. The remnants came to form Long Key, and the rest of the Florida Keys.

The climate and waters provided abundant plant and aquatic life for the

Spanish explorers

arrived.

"Cayo Vivora", or Rattlesnake Key, is what the first Spaniards called the island, since to them it resembled a snake with its jaws open.

By the early twentieth century, Long Key became an important depot for the completed

Labor Day hurricane

devastated the Club, the railroad, and much of the Keys.

The land that came to comprise the park was acquired between 1961 and 1973, with the official opening in 1969.

Biology

The plant life at Long Key originated in the Caribbean. Trees include mangrove, West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), Jamaica fish poisontree (Piscidia piscipula), poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum), gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba) and oysterwood (Gymnanthes lucida).

The shallow waters are a haven for saltwater fish and other marine life. Numerous wading birds can be seen, especially during the winter.