Windley Key Fossil Reef State Geological Site, Islamorada Area of the Keys, Florida, USA
Written: Jan 14 '03 (Updated Apr 09 '03)
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Pros: Inexpensive, interesting, historical and pretty.
Cons: The mosquitoes. Children may get bored.
The Bottom Line: This is a nice and different experience. It is a good place to spend a couple of quite hours. It is so inexpensive and you might enjoy it.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Windley Key Fossil Reef State Geological Site |
During our recent visit to the Florida Keys we went to Windley Key Fossil Reef State Geological Site
Background of Windley Key:
A quarry is an open excavation or pit from which stone is obtained by digging, cutting, or blasting.(your dictionary.com)
Windley Key is a nature center with nature trails and picnic tables. It is one of only two State geologic sites in Florida. The site is really interesting especially if you are interested in geology! The Florida Keys were an underground coral reef that, after thousands of years of water level stabilizing, exposed them. You will see the remains of early 20th century quarries cut through the 125,000-year-old fossil reef.
The Site has an interesting history. Briefly, the land was sold to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1908. From them until the Overseas Railroad was finished, the quarries along the railroad tract were used to supply thousands of tons of fills for the railbed and the bridge that approached them. The railroad was finished in 1912 and the quarries and Windley Key station were used to deliver water from the mainland, pick up mail and passengers and what is really interesting is that the polished “keystone” was railed back to the mainland. This keystone which is decorative building stone, can be seen on several buildings such as the St. Louis Post office in the United States.
Location, hours, fees:
Windley Key is part of the Islamorada Area just south of Key Largo at mile marker 85. (Everything in the keys is marked by mile markers.) Unless you are not able to walk I would suggest that you take a tour of the site. It is inexpensive at $1.50 a person. If you read somewhere that it is $1.00 a person that is inaccurate. Children under 6 are free.
You can access the handicapped accessible visitor center called The Alison Fahrer Environmental Education Center, for free. Here you will find displays and videos along with a conference room that is available for public use. The Center is free. There is no gift shop but you can buy the guidebook that the ranger will give you if you choose to go on a self-guided tour. The book is very pricey at $8.00 given the type of site this is, in my opinion.
A guided tour is available for $2.50 per person. Guided tours are given at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. However reservations are suggested. In fact the day we went, a Saturday at the end of December, since there was only one ranger working, no guided tours were available.
The Center and Site are open Monday through Thursday only. There are restrooms at the Education Center but not on the trails.
There is plenty of free parking.
What you will see and do:
1. Even if you aren’t at all interested in geology I found looking at the perfectly preserved fossilized specimens of a variety of ancient coral animals to be unique. The quarry machinery was able to cut this cleanly and looking at it is amazing.
2. You will see an old piece of machinery that cut the quarry into clean, neat pieces. The floor of part of the Site is totally exposed and you can clearly see fossiled coral and tiny coral animals.
3. Over 40 kinds of trees can be found along the trails whose fruits, nuts and berries feed many endangered animals and logs of migratory birds found on the Keys.
4. Bring a picnic lunch (We did.) and enjoy the large open space you will find on one of the trails with beautiful picnic tables in a beautiful, peaceful setting.
5. You will walk the trails. If you walk all the trails you will only be walking about 1-1/2 miles so this isn’t strenuous and it isn’t hiking. Wear comfortable shoes, though. 95% of the amazingly well maintained trails are very, very easy to walk. The rest are easy to walk on. You must, must, must wear bug spray. The mosquitoes are hearty in this area and you won’t enjoy yourself if you don’t. Much of the Site is a hammock. A hammock, which you will see a lot of in the Keys is an area trees, bushes, shrubs and flowers much of which is very fragrant, especially after or better yet, while it is raining.
There are benches everywhere which are beautiful. That may sound corny but it is true. They appear to be brand new slabs of wood on top of pieces of the quarry making them beautiful and comfortable.
6. You will walk the trails. We walked all of them. It is easy as I said and very, very pretty inside the hammock. There is a trail outside the hammock as well. The trails include:
The Flagler Quarry Trail which is about 948 feet long. This is an easy walk and a good introduction through the tropical hardwood hammock and the Flagler Quarry fossil coral walls. It is hoped that this trail will soon provide wheelchair access. The book you get for free is an excellent to everything you will be seeing while visiting the site. You should have no questions unanswered- that is how detailed this book is! I almost bought it I found it so interesting.
Another walk is the Quarry Station Trail, which branches out from the trail above. It is about 525 feet long. This is a tour of the Quarry Station area where the railroad brought water to this area and then carried the quarried stone away.
Don’t miss the Quarry Walls Walk, which is only 229 feet long. It is an opportunity to stand inside a coral reef now petrified after it died thousands of years ago.
The Hammock Trail is about 2,682 feet long where you will see rare and endangered varieties of cactus and palms, a tropical hammock and wetlands.
Sunset Trail is about 1,650 feet long. You will encounter a high hammock, wetlands, a salt marsh, the 'mangrove ecotone' (An ecotone is a transitional zone between two communities containing the characteristic species of each. your dictionary.com) and a view of Florida Bay at the end of the trail.
My final thoughts:
This is an inexpensive and interesting visit. You can spend 10 minutes there and pay nothing or spend a few hours, enjoy the history and hammock, a picnic lunch and the scenery. It was a nice way to take a break from our hectic schedule and still get to visit a rare site.
I can only call it average but I am recommending it. If you have time you may enjoy this. Children will have no problems on the trails (Except strollers will be hard to push.) which are made up mostly of limestone/coral covered leaves and crushed up coral. I do think they will be bored with it but if you want to go, when you enter the Quarry Walls Walk area, there is a lot of room for them to run around and burn off some energy.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment.
Some of this information comes from http://www.islandbase.com/fossilreef/windley.htm and the Windley Key Fossil Reef brochure.
If you are interested in other area things to do:
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
The Everglades
The Fish House
Recommended:
Yes
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Overview
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