Pigeon Key is a small island containing the historic district of Pigeon Key, Florida. The island is home to 8 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, some of which remain from its earliest incarnation as a work camp for the

Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a ...

. Today these buildings serve a variety of purposes, ranging from housing for educational groups to administrative offices for the non-profit Pigeon Key Foundation. The former Assistant Bridge Tender's House has been converted into a small museum featuring artifacts and images from Pigeon Key's colorful past. It is located off the old

Seven Mile Bridge The Seven Mile Bridge is a bridge in the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It connects Knight's Key (part of the city of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. Among the longest bri ...

, at approximately mile marker 45, west of Knight's Key, (city of

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

in the middle Florida Keys) and just east of

Moser Channel Moser Channel is the deepest passage spanned by the Seven Mile Bridge and is one of four predominant passages in the Florida Keys which allow exchange of waters to the north and west of the Keys (including Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico) wi ...

, which is the deepest section of the span. The island was originally known as "Cayo Paloma" (literally translated as "Pigeon Key") on many old Spanish charts - said to have been named for large flocks of

white-crowned pigeons The white-crowned pigeon (''Patagioenas leucocephala'') is a fruit and seed-eating species of bird in the dove and pigeon family Columbidae. It is found primarily in the Caribbean. John James Audubon painted these pigeons, including the waterc ...

(''Columba leucocephala'' Linnaeus) which once roosted there. During the building of Henry Flagler's

Overseas Railroad The Overseas Railroad (also known as Florida Overseas Railroad, the Overseas Extension, and Flagler's Folly) was an extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, a city located beyond the end of the Florida peninsula. Work on the line ...

Key West Extension between 1908 and 1912, there were at times as many as 400 workers housed on the island. While these workers built many bridges along the route through the lower keys, the Seven Mile Bridge, spanning the gap between Knight's Key and Little Duck Key remains the largest and most impressive component of what was once referred to as "the 8th Wonder of the World". A number of buildings from the Flagler era remain on the island and are now part of the Pigeon Key Historic District. Pigeon Key was one of the locations for the "Bal Harbor Institute" in the 1995 series of '' Flipper''. It was seen in three episodes during season one including the pilot episode. It was also the site of the Finish Line of ''The Amazing Race 18 "Unfinished Business"'' in 2011.

Pigeon Key Historic District

The Pigeon Key Historic District is a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from ce ...

(designated as such on March 16, 1990) located on Pigeon Key in

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, a ...

. The district is off U.S. 1 at mile marker 45. It contains 11 historic buildings and 3 structures. The old Seven Mile Bridge (closed to vehicular traffic) crosses over the island and has a pedestrian exit ramp going to the island.

References

External links

Pigeon Key Foundation
* ttp://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/FL/Monroe/districts.html Monroe County listingsa
National Register of Historic Places
{{authority control Islands of the Florida Keys Islands of Monroe County, Florida National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Florida Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida Islands of Florida