Islamorada (also sometimes Islas Morada) is an incorporated

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: *Monroe County, Alabama * Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida *Monroe County, Georgia * Monroe County, Illinois * Monroe County, Indi ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. It is located directly between

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

and

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) 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 cons ...

on five

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

s— Tea Table Key, Lower Matecumbe Key, Upper Matecumbe Key,

Windley Key Windley Key is an island in the upper Florida Keys in Monroe County, Florida, United States. U.S. 1 (the Overseas Highway) crosses it at approximately mile markers 84–85.5, between Plantation Key and Upper Matecumbe Key. All of the key is with ...

and Plantation Key—in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located 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 south of Miami, and e ...

History

The name ''Islamorada'' (), "purple island," came from early Spanish explorers in the area. Islamorada was the location of one of the stations of the Overseas Railroad. Islamorada was hit almost directly by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, causing 423 deaths. A memorial, including the ashes of over 300 victims, exists today at Overseas Highway mile marker 82.

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

baseball player

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 193 ...

began visiting Islamorada in 1943 and for the next 45 years was the island's most well-known resident. After his retirement from baseball he became the national spokesman for

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

sporting goods, and became renowned for his abilities as a

fisherman A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or rec ...

. Over the decades, he hosted numerous celebrities at his Islamorada house and took them on local fishing trips. The village was incorporated on December 31, 1997. Prior to this date, "Islamorada" referred to the evolving community island of Upper Matecumbe Key. At the 2010

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

, the village had a total

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 6,119.

Geography

Islamorada is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which is land and (1.93%) is water. Islamorada is located approximately 1.5 hours driving time south of

and approximately 2 hours driving time northeast of

. Islamorada is located approximately 19 nautical miles southwest of John Pennekamp Coral Reef. With its position between the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, Islamorada is on migration routes for many large fish species. Therefore, Islamorada is informally known as the ''Sportfishing Capital of the World''.

Climate

Islamorada has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of ...

( Aw), similar to the rest of the Florida Keys.

Demographics

The community is registered in the census as Islamorada, Village of Islands.

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, there were 7,107 people, 2,792 households, and 1,731 families residing in the village.

2010 census

As of the

of 2010, there were 6,119 people, 2,882 households, and 1,673 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 5,692 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 96.54%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.72%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.38% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.13%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.69% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 9.63% of the population. There were 2,882 households, out of which 17.04% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.13% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 5.76% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.95% were non-families. 31.78% of all households were made up of individuals, and 33.24% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.57. In the village, the population was spread out, with 13.86% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 35.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 112.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 112.2 males. The median income for a household in the village was $41,522, and the median income for a family was $56,118. Males had a median income of $31,339 versus $25,670 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the village was $29,519. 6.9% of the population and 3.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 7.0% are under the age of 18 and 4.5% are 65 or older.

Neighborhoods

Official

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

s within the village are: * Lower Matecumbe Beach *

Matecumbe Matecumbe is a neighborhood within the village of Islamorada in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is located in the upper Florida Keys on the island of Upper Matecumbe Key Upper Matecumbe Key is an island in the upper Florida Keys. U ...

* Moorings Village * Plantation Key Colony

Education

Residents are zoned to schools in the Monroe County School District. * Zoned to Plantation Key School in Plantation Key * Coral Shores High School * Treasure Village Montessori Charter School

Library

Islamorada Public Library-Helen Wadley Branch is part of the

Monroe County Public Library (Florida Keys) The Monroe County Public Library System is a public library system located in Monroe County, Florida, which includes the Florida Keys. The system has five branches located in Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine, and Key West. The Monroe Cou ...

. The first public library in the Keys opened in Key West in 1853, and today there are five locations throughout the Keys that serve over 350,000 young people and adults. The current Islamorada library is housed in a

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) building, built originally as the Matecumbe School in the late 1930s. It was designed to be hurricane proof. As the number of children attending the school increased, they were moved to a larger school and the building housed several other entities before opening as the Islamorada Branch of the Monroe County Library in 1966.It was not considered the “usual” library as it offered couches, tea and coffee. Today the building is a little bigger than it was when it first opened its doors in 1938. Two additions were made, one in 1983 and another in 1999. (Bertelli, 2015) The library was rededicated in 1983, in honor of Mrs. Helen Wadley, a true friend of the library. This branch is home to six WPA commissioned bas relief sculptures by Joan van Breeman.

Culture

The History of Diving Museum opened in 2005. It has featured exhibits about

Diving With a Purpose Diving With a Purpose (DWP) is an American non-profit organization aimed at locating and documenting shipwrecks, predominantly those related to the Atlantic slave trade. History Diving With a Purpose was founded in 2005 by Kenneth Stewart (born ...

and the USS Spiegel Grove, now an

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many ...

. Another popular tourist attraction is Robbie's Marina, which is well known for allowing guests to feed tarpon live fish.

Notable people

Gene Hackman Eugene Allen Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an American retired actor and former novelist. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Hackman has won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs ...

, actor * Jimmy Johnson, former college and NFL coach *

Robert E. Rich, Jr. Robert E. Rich Jr. (born January 25, 1941) is an American businessman, philanthropist and writer. He is currently chairman of the board and majority owner of Rich Products Corporation (Rich's), a large food processing company headquartered in Buf ...

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

of Rich Products

In popular culture

Islamorada is the location of the movie '' Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein''. Much of the action in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

series '' Bloodline'' takes place in and around Islamorada: *In the season 1 premiere episode, Islamorada is the

Academy Bus Academy Bus Lines is a bus company in New Jersey providing local bus services in northern New Jersey, line-run services to/from New York City from points in southern and central New Jersey, and contract and charter service in the eastern United ...

stop where John Rayburn is scheduled to pick up his brother Danny, and the station where John drops Danny off soon afterward. In both cases, the bus is a shiny-clean

. In episode 11, John drives Danny to the bus stop in Islamorada again, and Danny finally boards a Miami-bound, dirt-encrusted Sunnyside Coaches bus. *John and his sister's boyfriend Marco Diaz are both detectives in the

Sheriff's Department; "Islamorada District" can be seen labeling their police boat. *In season 2, episode 6 (Part 19), Diana is running in Islamorada's Founders Park when she discovers her tire is flat; Danny's associate Ozzie Delveccio just happens to be nearby and changes her tire, leaving his prints on her tire iron. John notes the tire has been neatly cut, runs the prints, and confirms a connection between Ozzie and Danny. *In season 2, episode 7 (Part 20), Meg tells Marco that Sarah drowned in Whale Harbor, a well known harbor in Islamorada.

References

External links

* * Official site. * * * * {{Authority control Villages in Monroe County, Florida Seaside resorts in Florida Populated coastal places in Florida on the Atlantic Ocean Villages in Florida Former census-designated places in Florida