The Southernmost Point Buoy is an anchored concrete buoy in Key West, Florida, marking the southernmost point in the continental United States, the lowest latitude land of contiguous North American states. It is 18 feet above sea level. The large painted buoy was established as a tourist attraction in 1983 by the city at the corner of South Street and Whitehead Street.
The southernmost point was originally marked with a small sign, before the City of Key West erected the now famous concrete buoy in 1983. The concrete buoy has overall withstood several hurricanes and is a gathering place for photographs and tourists. [1] [2] The paint job was damaged by Hurricane Irma in September 2017, but it was refurbished later that year by the original artist. [3] [1] [2] [4] Cuba is roughly 90 miles south of this point in Key West, although this was not originally on the marker, but rather on a smaller sign next to marker. [5]
Before the concrete buoy there was a wooden sign that noted the southern point at this spot. [6] The old wood sign as of 1970 only said "The Southernmost Point, of Southernmost City, Key West Fla." [7] By 1982 this had changed to "The Southernmost Point, In USA, Key West Fla". [8] There was separate sign on a nearby fence in that area, with an arrow pointing south (in this case to the left) with the text "90 Miles to Cuba". [9]
The buoy is maintained by the Key West Public Works Department and it was dedicated on September 10, 1983. [10] The painted concrete buoy is 12 feet tall and 7 feet wide. [11]
Next to the marker is a cement telegraph hut. This hut housed an underwater telephone cable that connected Key West to Havana in 1921. [12] The cable hut is a small structure just a little east of the Southernmost marker where the cable went into the sea. [13]
As of 2011, the buoy is inscribed: "The Conch Republic. 90 Miles to Cuba, Southernmost Point Continental U.S.A., Key West, F.L., Home of the Sunset". [10] The buoy was refurbished in 2005. [11] The phrases "90 miles to Cuba" and "Home of the Sunset" were not on the 1986 paint job. [14]
In November 1983, the text did not include the line "90 miles to Cuba", which was still written on a smaller sign on fence next to the buoy. [15] Next to the buoy, also as of November 1983, there was a script "America Begins" painted on a curb below the 90 miles to Cuba sign. [15] Also at that time the buoy did not include the text "Home of the Sunset". [15] (see also Mallory Square, which hosts Key West sunset celebration)
By the 2010s, there was a webcam that relays video of the street corner where the buoy is located to the Internet. [16]
The buoy paint job was done by local painter-artist Danny Acosta, and the City of Key West hired him to paint again after it was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. [4]
On New Year's Day 2022, the buoy was vandalized, resulting in "extensive damages." [17] A camera operated by Two Oceans Digital that helped find two vandals, both of whom faced over $1,000 in damages for criminal mischief.
A more southern part of Key West Island exists and is publicly accessible: the beach area of Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park at approximately 24°32'42.2"N 81°48'34.5"W, and approximately 500 feet (150 m) farther south than the marker.
Further south, land on the Truman Annex property, just west-southwest of the buoy, is the true southernmost point on the island (approximately 900 feet (270 m) farther south near 24°32'39.2"N 81°48'17.8"W), but it has no marker since it is U.S. Navy property and cannot be entered by civilian tourists.
Finally, the true southernmost point in Florida (as well as in the continental United States) is actually 10 miles away at Ballast Key (24°31'15.9"N 81°57'49.5"W), an island south and west of Key West.
The claim on the buoy stating "90 miles to Cuba" may be a rounded number, since Cuba, at its closest point is 94 statute (81 nautical) miles due south. [18] One book author suggests they meant 90 nautical miles, from a distance of 103 statute ('regular') miles measuring from Key West to Havana, Cuba. [19]
In Callahan's Key (2001) by Spider Robinson the monument is mentioned in the line "The famous, oft-photographed marker at The Southernmost Point which is not." [20] [ unreliable source? ]
A subplot of Robert Tacoma's second novel, Key Weirder (2005), involves an interstate dispute over where the true southernmost point is located, and, therefore, where the monument should be placed.[ citation needed ]
In 2023, the location was chosen as the ending point for season 8 of Nebula and YouTube series Jet Lag: The Game , a travel competition show. [21]
A similar marker in the Northwest Angle of Minnesota was created to indicate the northernmost point in the contiguous United States. [22] [23]
Cudjoe Key is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Monroe County, Florida, United States, on an island of the same name in the lower Florida Keys. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 2,019, up from 1,763 in 2010.
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it constitutes the City of Key West.
Marathon is a city in the middle of the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 9,689, up from 8,297 in 2010.
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. The southern part of Key West is 93 miles (150 km) from Cuba. The Keys are located between about 24.3 and 25.5 degrees North latitude.
Scout Key is an island in the lower Florida Keys. It was previously known as West Summerland Key until 2010. U.S. 1 crosses the key at approximately mile markers 34–35, between Spanish Harbor Key and Big Pine Key.
Key Largo is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at 33 miles (53 km) long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by U.S. Highway 1. Three census-designated places (CDPs) are on the island of Key Largo: North Key Largo, Key Largo and Tavernier. As of 2010, these three CDPs have a combined population of 13,850. None of Key Largo is an incorporated municipality; it is governed, at the local level, by Monroe County.
Big Coppitt Key is an island in Monroe County, Florida, United States, in the lower Florida Keys. The name is said to be a derivation of the old English word "coppice", meaning thicket. According to A.D. Bache, in the notes for his coast survey conducted in 1861, this key was the location of Happy Jack's plantation in 1855.
Duval Street is a downtown commercial zoned street in Key West, Florida, running north and south from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, just over 1.25 miles in length. It is named for William Pope Duval, the first territorial governor of Florida.
The Ernest Hemingway House was the residence of American writer Ernest Hemingway in the 1930s. The house is situated on the island of Key West, Florida. It is at 907 Whitehead Street, across from the Key West Lighthouse, close to the southern coast of the island. Due to its association with Hemingway, the property is the most popular tourist attraction in Key West. It is also famous for its large population of so-called Hemingway cats, many of which are polydactyl.
The Sugarloaf Key Bat Tower, also known as the Perky Bat Tower, is a historic site in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is located a mile northwest of U.S. Route 1 on Lower Sugarloaf Key at mile marker 17. On May 13, 1982, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The tower was blown down during Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Perky is a ghost town in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is located in the lower Florida Keys on Lower Sugarloaf Key near mile marker 17 on US 1.
The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory located at 1316 Duval Street, Key West, Florida, United States is a butterfly park that houses from 50 to 60 different species of live butterflies from around the world in a climate-controlled, glass-enclosed habitat.
Hurricane Fox was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that crossed central Cuba in October 1952. The seventh named storm, sixth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 1952 Atlantic hurricane season, it was the strongest and deadliest system of the season. Fox developed northwest of Cartagena, Colombia, in the southern Caribbean Sea. It moved steadily northwest, intensifying to a tropical storm on October 21. The next day, it rapidly strengthened into a hurricane and turned north passing closely to Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. The cyclone attained peak winds of 145 mph (233 km/h) as it struck Cayo Guano del Este off the coast of Cienfuegos. Fox made landfall on Cuba at maximum intensity, producing peak gusts of 170–180 mph (270–290 km/h). It weakened over land, but it re-strengthened as it turned east over the Bahamas. On October 26, it weakened and took an erratic path, dissipating west-southwest of Bermuda on October 28.
Boot Key Harbor is a natural body of water located in the middle of the Florida Keys, entirely within the city limits of Marathon, Florida, United States.
The 1924 Cuba hurricane is the first officially recorded Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale (SSHWS), as well as the first Atlantic hurricane with sustained wind speeds of at least 135, 140, and 145 knots. It is also one of two hurricanes to make landfall on Cuba at Category 5 intensity, the other being Hurricane Irma in 2017 – both are also tied for the strongest Cuban landfall in terms of maximum sustained winds. The hurricane formed on October 14 in the western Caribbean, slowly organizing as it tracked northwestward. By October 16, the storm attained hurricane status to the east of the Yucatán Peninsula, and subsequently executed a small counterclockwise loop. On Friday, October 18, the hurricane intensified rapidly and, on the next day, reached an estimated peak intensity of 165 mph (266 km/h). Shortly thereafter, it struck extreme western Cuba at peak intensity, becoming the strongest hurricane on record to hit the country. Later the hurricane weakened greatly, striking southwestern Florida with winds of 90 mph (140 km/h) in a sparsely populated region. While crossing the state it weakened to tropical storm status, and after accelerating east-northeastward, it was absorbed by a cold front on October 23, to the south of Bermuda.
The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season was an event in the annual tropical cyclone season in the north Atlantic Ocean. This Atlantic hurricane season saw above-normal activity; it was the seventh most active season on record and the most active since 2005. The season officially began on June 1, 2017 and ended on November 30, 2017. These dates, adopted by convention, historically describe the period in each year when most tropical systems form. However, storm formation is possible at any time of the year, as demonstrated in 2017 by the formation of the season's first named storm, Tropical Storm Arlene, on April 19. The final storm of the season, Tropical Storm Rina degenerated to a remnant area of low pressure on November 9.
Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in early September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered the most powerful hurricane on record in the open Atlantic region, outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, until it was surpassed by Hurricane Dorian two years later. It was also the third-strongest Atlantic hurricane at landfall ever recorded, just behind the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane and Dorian. The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, second major hurricane, and first Category 5 hurricane of the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Irma caused widespread and catastrophic damage throughout its long lifetime, particularly in the northeastern Caribbean and the Florida Keys. It was also the most intense hurricane to strike the continental United States since Katrina in 2005, the first major hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma in the same year, and the first Category 4 hurricane to strike the state since Charley in 2004. The word Irmageddon was coined soon after the hurricane to describe the damage caused by the hurricane.
Hurricane Irma was the costliest tropical cyclone in the history of the U.S. state of Florida, before being surpassed by Hurricane Ian in 2022. Irma developed from a tropical wave near the Cape Verde Islands on August 30, 2017. The storm quickly became a hurricane on August 31 and then a major hurricane shortly thereafter, but would oscillate in intensity over the next few days. By September 4, Irma resumed strengthening, and became a powerful Category 5 hurricane on the following day. The cyclone then struck Saint Maarten and the British Virgin Islands on September 6 and later crossed Little Inagua in the Bahamas on September 8. Irma briefly weakened to a Category 4 hurricane, but re-intensified into a Category 5 hurricane before making landfall in the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago of Cuba. After falling to Category 3 status due to land interaction, the storm re-strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane in the Straits of Florida. Irma struck Florida twice on September 10 – the first as a Category 4 at Cudjoe Key and the second on Marco Island as a Category 3. The hurricane weakened significantly over Florida, and was reduced to a tropical storm, before exiting the state into Georgia on September 11.
Clyde Steamship Company was a steamship transportation company connecting New York City to Florida as well as routes to Boston and Providence, Cuba, New Orleans, and various Keys. William P. Clyde organized the company in 1874 and acquired various ships including the steamboat Beverly, Bristol, Philadelphia, Alliance, A.C. Stimers, May Flower, Ann Eliza and the canal boats City of Buffalo and Catherine Moan.
Media related to Southernmost point buoy in Key West, Florida at Wikimedia Commons