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Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides

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Agave plants

Indian Key Historic State Park

The original seat of Dade County, settled in 1836, lies in limestone ruins swaddled in a tropical forest within sight of US 1, but offshore. Indian Key takes a little planning to visit, but is well worth the journey.

Islamorada      ( 24.877161,-80.677355 )      

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The original seat of Dade County, settled in 1836, lies in limestone ruins swaddled in a tropical forest within sight of US 1, but offshore.

Indian Key takes a little planning to visit, but is well worth the journey.


Resources

Resources for exploring the area

South Florida Explorers Guide book cover 50 Hikes in South Florida book cover Complete Guide to Florida Wildflowers Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.


Overview

Location: Islamorada
Trailhead: 24.877161,-80.677355
Fees: $2.50 per person
Land Manager: Florida State Parks

Open 8 AM until sunset daily. No pets permitted.


Directions

 
Offshore from Lower Matecumbe Key and Indian Key Fill, within sight of US 1 to the east. Can only be reached by boat. Rentals available at Robbie’s Marina.

About the Park

A toilet, carved in rock, flushed by the sea. Streets laid out through a tropical forest.

Grand homes built by wreckers, who rowed out to the coral reefs to claim the ruins of Spanish ships that shredded in the shallows.

It was a rough and rowdy place, this island where Dade County began long before Miami showed up. Infamous wrecker Jacob Housman owned the island and filled it with tropical plantings.

Botanist Henry Perrine brought his family and got a government grant to experiment with growing sisal hemp in the Florida Keys.

Agave plants
The tall agave plants were first planted on Indian Key by Dr. Perrine

Tragedy soon struck the close-knit community. A raiding party of more than 100 Seminoles attacked the island on August 7, 1840, and Perrine was killed.

Abandoned soon after, the ruins of the community are now surrounded by interesting tropical trees and plants grown wild from Perrine’s original stock, including limes that might be the original key limes.

Although you can see it from US 1, Indian Key Historic State Park is accessible only by boat. There is no formal ferry schedule. Check at Robbie’s Marina at MM 78.5 for tours and kayak rentals.

Explore the park

Indian Key

Indian Key: An unusual ghost town

John takes a trip back in time with Florida Keys historian Brad Bertelli to discover the layers of history found on Indian Key, once the county seat of Dade County


Explore More!

More worth exploring while you’re in this area.

Branches of the lignum vitae tree

Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park

Wrapped in a dense blanket of mosquitoes, Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park is one of the United States’ most significant botanical treasures, a virgin tropical forest home to more than a thousand lignum vitae trees.

Green Turtle Hammock Preserve

Green Turtle Hammock Nature Preserve

On a wild sliver of Upper Matecumbe Key, footpaths wind through a rockland tropical hammock where a rocky crevice emits sulfur fumes and you must beware of crocodiles near the mangroves

Plantation Hammocks Preserve

Plantation Hammocks Preserve

Adjoining Founders Park on Plantation Key, Plantation Hammocks Preserve showcases some of the Florida Keys most interesting flowers under a generous canopy of well-established tropical trees.

Tropical trees and quarry walls

Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park

See coral fossils up close in a tropical forest at Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park to learn the natural history of how the Florida Keys were formed.


Official Website

Category: Access by water, Florida State Parks, Hikes, Nature Trails, Paddling, Parks, South Florida, Southeast FloridaTag: Best Paddling, Boating, Botanical, Fishing, Florida Keys, Florida State Parks, Guided Tours, Historic Sites, Islamorada, Islands, Scuba, Seminole Wars, Snorkeling, Swimming

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Well worn path through a wet pine flatwoods landscape

DuPuis Loop Trail

DuPuis Loop Trail
Bike along bike path in greenway

East Coast Greenway Stuart

East Coast Greenway Stuart
Nature trail in pine-palm forest

Gomez Preserve

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Hiker in red against mangroves on boardwalk

Peck Lake Park

Peck Lake Park

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