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Life in Key West has always been unpredictable. It's as far out into the tropics as you can get in the contiguous United States, and it's clearly a different kind of place. This is a community at the end of the Keys, and on the edges of national, economic and social frontiers. It's been home to artists, rebels, writers, outlaws, and controversy of all kinds. It has never been a quiet harbor. The people that live in the Keys think of Florida as the "Mainland."

The early Spanish explorers were the first to fail in Florida. The gold and the Fountain of Youth turned out to be myths, and the Indians they had hoped to capture for slaves were far more ferocious than they expected. About all they found in Key West were ancestral bones preserved by the Calusa Indians. They named the island "Cayo Huesa" which means island of bones. Things weren't much better for the first immigrants from the Bahamas and Cuba. The soil was so poor that most of them lived on the local shellfish. Residents of the Keys are still called "Conchs."

Sometimes things improved but then they collapsed again. Great plans, grandiose schemes, and enormous investments all came and went. The economy in Key West followed a pattern of incredible highs and unbelievable lows. The first big controversy was over the ownership of the island. John W. Simonton purchased Key West in 1821 from a Spanish field officer but the sale was bitterly contested. Unfortunately, the Spanish officer had also sold it to a Mr. John B. Strong. John wasn't strong enough, and Simonton won. Then Admiral Perry arrived and formally took possession of the island for the United States. That really created a mess and it took five years in court to straighten out who owned what. Next, Commodore Porter was sent to Key West as head of naval operations there. He drove out the remaining pirates and considered himself to be totally in charge of Key West. The Commodore recognized no authority but the United States government and he was virtually a dictator. Among other heavy-handed moves, he had a city plan made to his own personal tastes, patterned after Paris with all streets radiating from the center of town. The citizens violently disagreed but it was a long battle before plans finally changed to the square grid layout that now exists.

The Navy base, established in 1823, was the first legitimate lift for the Key West economy, but it didn't compare at all with the riches brought in by the Wreckers. Between 1832 and 1855, the population of Key West rose from five hundred to twenty-seven hundred. Most of these newcomers were from New England, anxious to get into the enormously profitable wrecking business. They made millions of dollars and they lived extravagantly. In the 1880s, during the heyday of the wreckers, Key West had the richest citizens in the United States. Wreckers were licensed by the US court in Key West. The first person to get aboard a wreck was the "Wrecking Master." There were big races to get out to the wreck first because the Wrecking Master got extra shares. The government started building new lighthouses in 1852 and that put the wrecking business on the rocks.

The Cuban revolt against the Spanish rule resulted in ten years of war from 1868 to 1878. Many Cubans moved to Key West In the late 1800s to avoid the war. The cigar manufacturers wanted a safer place to work, and by 1876, twenty-nine factories with twenty-one hundred employees were producing 171,000 cigars a day in Key West. The Havana American Tobacco Company was the largest. Its three-story building had no windows and the doors were never left open for fear the fragile makings would blow away. To mollify the workers and keep them from thinking about the heat, "Readers" read books and the daily newspapers to the factory workers as they kept turning out the stogies. This profitable business encouraged the workers to demand more money and that escalated into a struggle between the owners and the workers, both about money and the working conditions. Vincente Martinez Ybor moved his cigar factory from Key West to Tampa to escape these issues. That was the beginning of Ybor City in Tampa, and the end of the cigar industry in Key West.

Henry Flagler gave the town a boost when he completed his Overseas Railroad in 1912, but prohibition did more for Key West than Henry's iron horses. Roadhouses with special lights guided in the Rum Runners. The roadhouses paid $25.00 a month to informants for advance warnings of the occasional, but obligatory raids.

The crash of 1929 wiped out brief years of prosperity and resulted in the closing of the Naval Base in Key West. From this point everything went downhill. By 1934 Key West was five million dollars in debt and 80 percent of the 12,000 citizens were on welfare. The town was a disaster with abandoned cigar factories, collapsed piers, dilapidated houses, and people living on fish and coconuts. In July of that year Key West was so poor it relinquished all powers of government to the state. The governor turned to Washington for help. They sent Julius Stone to Key West as the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator. He decided to turn the town into a resort center and his volunteer work force of four thousand citizens (who had little else to do) planted trees, built park benches, painted houses and cleaned beaches. Fishing guides were trained and a "Hospitality Band" greeted every ship and train with music. It put Key West back in business with a flourish but it only lasted six months. The hurricane of 1935 hit the Keys after the biggest tourist season in history. It blew away the railroad and all of Key West's hopes.

The land in Key West has been nearly as unstable as the economy. People kept moving things around. Fort Taylor was moved and rebuilt after being almost underwater, and after the 1846 hurricane the Lighthouse was moved inland. They moved the graveyard as well; just to make sure the old folks didn't wash away. Dredging by the Navy created more land and half the land in Key West didn't exist 150 years ago. Flagler couldn't find any available land for a railroad depot so he filled in what is now known as Trumbo Point. The 19th century Porter Steamship office was moved 300 feet out in the water from the Havana ferry dock and the entire Pier House complex was built around it. The library was moved farther down Duval, and even the oldest house in town was moved. One of the cigar tycoons built a mansion on Truman and then moved it to Virginia Street. His son later built a house at Duval and South streets but didn't like the way the sun shone on one of the porches, so he had the house turned around in the yard. They're still moving things; it's a city in motion.

The epitaphs in the Key West Cemetery are unique. The most famous headstone says, "I told you I was sick!" A widow that apparently had some problems with her late spouse had one made that said, "At least I know where he's sleeping tonight." There's "The buck stops here" and "Call me for Dinner." Stone encased caskets rest on top of the earth because the coral rock down below makes it impossible to dig graves. Tours of the cemetery are a popular tourist attraction.

Old Town is "downtown." Fort Street separates the southwestern end of this area from the Navy Reservation. White Street is the northeastern border of Old Town. You can't miss the tourists in their standard uniforms of straw hats, bright flowered shirts, shorts, and camera bag. There appear to be thousands of them, and they vary in direct proportion to the exchange rates. There may be Germans, Japanese, British, Italians, or Spaniards depending on the financial trends.

Fantasy Fest is in late October, and usually encompasses Halloween. It's a fantastic combination of Mardi Gras & Carnaval, mixed with the unique talents of Key West. The Grand Finale of the four-day festival is the Saturday night Grand Parade with the "Pretenders in Paradise" costume contest. The floats and the costumes are extraordinary constructions often failing to completely clothe the contestants. The parade is, at the least, unusual if not bizarre, and sometimes outrageous.

You may want to take the Conch Train or the Old Town Trolley to get an overall view of the town before you start walking. On the tour you'll see many handsome clapboard houses, similar to those in the Bahamas. Ship's carpenters using wooden pegs instead of nails built some of these cottages. Beautiful flowers surround them with romantic names like Jacaranda, Bougainvillea, Poinciana, and Frangipani. The Conch Train ride ends at the northwest end of Duval Street, and the shops on Duval offer everything from junk to jewels. "Fast Buck Freddy's," is a totally awesome emporium. At Green Street is Ernest Hemingway's favorite watering hole- Sloppy Joe's. Next is the Wrecker's Museum in the oldest house in Key West, and a few blocks farther is Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. If the feet hold up, check out the Hemingway House on Whitehead Street where his six toed cats still live in rather fine style. From either Margaritaville or Ernie's place, heading northwest on Whitehead will lead to Audubon House and after that, Mel Fisher's Museum is just south on Green Street. It's one of the most popular exhibits in town with treasures from the Spanish ships Santa Margarita and the Nuestra Sonora de Atocha. These ships left Havana on Sunday, Sept. 4, 1622 with a fleet of twenty-eight ships carrying gold, silver, pearls, and emeralds. Nine of the vessels went down in a hurricane, losing 550 people and scattering treasure along the bottom. Many believe that Mel Fisher only found part of the fortunes still hidden under the sand.

Make sure you take the first mate to see Key West Hand Print Fabrics at Green and Simonton Street. You can watch the silkscreen printers creating new designs, yard goods and accessories that are on sale. If it's near the end of the day, continue down Whitehead to Mallory Square for the daily "Sunset Celebration." It's a gathering of tourists, visiting boaters, a few of the residents, and some rather unusual people standing around going "ooh" and "ah" as the sun goes down. When it slips below the horizon, everyone applauds. Meanwhile, street performers balance and juggle while riding unicycles, musicians play various semi-musical instruments, and vendors sell a variety of edible and inedible food while "The Cookie Lady" peddles her chocolate chip cookies. There are serious sunset watchers looking for a green flash, itinerants hoping for a little cash, and lots of people just having a bash. It's a trip!

Tourists are the biggest industry today in Key West. They bring in millions of dollars but many residents believe the very fabric of this little town is being distorted. The tourists are not always gracious. T-shirts and tourist trash are in every store. The tourists fly around on rented, noisy motorcycles and now each year thousands of bikers come into town at the end of the "Poker Run." Some facilities have encroached on historical sites. Many fear the onslaught of the tourists may bring about the next big changes in Key West.

By car, it's a straight shot down the turnpike and then US One leads you past Homestead and Florida City to the "eighteen mile stretch." That's 18 miles of two-lane road interspersed with passing zones. Signs warn that patience is best and the passing areas are not far away. A few of the more impatient drivers have not survived the trip. Turn your headlights on to make sure oncoming traffic can see you and watch for some of the other road signs? like the one that says, " Crocodile Crossing."

If you go down there by boat, Key West Bight has a number of marinas, some which can accept very large yachts. The Galleon and the A&B marinas are very close to starboard when you come in the bight. Land's End is further on to the East. If the marinas in Key West Bight are full, there's more room in Garrison Bight. The trip around Fleming Key looks a little intimidating but it isn't bad at all if you follow the marks and stay in the channel. At the south end of Garrison Bight Channel it looks as you're going into someone's yard, but a sharp left turn will lead to the end of Trumbo Point and the entrance to Garrison Bight Harbor. The Key West Yacht Club in Garrison Bight Harbor is small but friendly, and they have dockage up to sixty feet. It's right on Roosevelt Boulevard where a bus can take you downtown for the evening festivities. Ask the dockmaster for the bus schedules.

Key West is a departure point for boats with a variety of destinations. The Northwest Channel leads out to Gulf. The Southwest Channel is the way out heading to the Dry Tortugas. The main ship channel takes you out to Hawk Channel if you plan to head north. Cuba was a common destination in prior years and someday it may become legal to go there again. Havana is about ninety miles from the Main Ship Channel heading a bit west of south.

Key West is unique and so are many of its residents and visitors. Famous writers, fine artists, fat tourists, and free thinking folks have all loved this extremity of extremes at the end of the archipelago, - far out and definitely on the edge.