Soldier Key is an island in Biscayne National Park in

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

, Florida. It is located between

Biscayne Bay Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...

and 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 ...

, about three miles north of the Ragged Keys, five miles south of Cape Florida on

Key Biscayne Key Biscayne ( es, Cayo Vizcaíno, link=no) is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies sou ...

, seven-and-a-half miles east of the mainland and three miles west of Fowey Rocks. It lies on the

Safety Valve A safety valve is a valve that acts as a fail-safe. An example of safety valve is a pressure relief valve (PRV), which automatically releases a substance from a boiler, pressure vessel, or other system, when the pressure or temperature exceeds ...

, a

sand bar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

that separates Biscayne Bay from the Atlantic Ocean and moderates storm surges into the bay.

Geography

The island is small, about 200 yards (200 meters) by 100 yards (100 meters) with a maximum elevation of six feet (under two meters). It is at the southern end of the along-shore movement of sand that feeds the barrier islands to the North (such as Key Biscayne) and is the northernmost exposure of the Key Largo

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

(fossilized coral reef) which forms the "true"

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 ...

. The island is covered by grass and shrub vegetation typical of the Florida Keys. Although the island was described as "thickly wooded" in 1894, as of 1955 the only wooded areas were

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in sever ...

on the fringes of the island. Also as of 1955, there were several buildings on the island, and a boat slip protected by jetties.

History

It was the site of the "Soldier Key Club", ca. 1910. Earlier names for the island include: "La Parida y su Figulo", "La Parida y su Hijos", "Laurence Key", "Little Soldier Key", "Oswald Island" and "Parida". Current charts show a single key at this location, but many early maps & charts show at least two. In 1989/1990 a Fort Lauderdale Entertainment conglomerate unveiled plans to partner with a day cruise company and begin selling day trips to Soldier Key. This would have required dredging the bay bottom, creating an artificial beach, building tiki huts and concession stands, electrifying and plumbing the island. A group of locals began a grassroots protest, collecting hundreds of signatures of boycotting customers. They held a regatta protest in which twenty or so boats showed up. This was the day the ground war started in the first Gulf War, so their protest action was lost in the news out of Iraq. They ultimately prevailed and the plans for developing Soldier Key were abandoned.

References

{{authority control Islands of the Florida Keys Uninhabited islands of Miami-Dade County, Florida Biscayne National Park Islands of Florida