To step into a virgin tropical hammock – there’s nothing like it on earth, and certainly nowhere else in Florida or the United States will you find one so pristine, with 280 acres of large and ancient tropical trees – and the clouds of mosquitoes that surround them.  The delight of Lignumvitae Key is its namesake, the lignumvitae. Blooming with...

In 1908, Henry Flagler opened a quarry on Windley Key during construction of his Overseas Railroad. The Florida Keys are made of coral rock, and it is at this geological site that you’ll peer deeply into the island’s fossil past, frozen in the walls of these massive quarries. At first, no one thought much of the rock. It was used...