The Mule Keys are a group of scattered islets in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago 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 a ...

Monroe County, Florida Monroe County is the southernmost county of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 82,874. Its county seat is Key West. Monroe County includes the islands of the Florida Keys and comprises the Key West-Key Largo Micr ...

, United States. They are between west of

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of 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 con ...

, separated from it by the Northwest Channel. On the west, they are separated from the

Marquesas Keys The Marquesas Keys form an uninhabited island group about west of Key West, in diameter, and largely covered by mangrove forest. They are an unincorporated area of Monroe County, Florida and belong to the Lower Keys Census County Division. T ...

by the wide Boca Grande Channel. They belong to the outlying islands of the Florida Keys. Administratively, they are an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

of Monroe County. The islets are part of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. The area of the islets totals , of which are land area and inland water bodies (on three of the keys). The islets are uninhabited except for Mule Key, for which the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000 lists one housing unit with a population of two (park rangers or coast guard). The

United States Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

has placed most of this area off limits, as a part of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. It is even prohibited to anchor off Man Key and Woman Key in the sand, although Woman Key was a popular destination for day trippers from Key West in the past, which Boca Grande Key still is. Anchoring off the south part of Boca Grande Key is also prohibited; it is permitted only off the northwest portion. Ballast Key was privately owned by Key West developer David W. Wolkowsky. After Wolkowsky's death in 2018, the island was donated to

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in ...

, which in turn deeded ownership of the land to the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

. The easternmost islet, Mule Key, is west of

Sunset Key Sunset Key is a residential neighborhood and resort island in the city of Key West, Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico ...

which is part of

city. The westernmost (and largest) islet, Boca Grande Key, is 6 miles (10 km) east of the

. 12 individual islets are named on detailed topographical maps: On nautical maps, the Mule Keys appear like an

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...

of length east–west, and width north–south (covering a sea area of roughly , with Mule Key, Crawfish Key, Man Key, Ballast Key, Woman Key and Boca Grande Key along the southern rim (from east to west), and Cottrell Key in the north. south of Mule Key, separated from the Mule Keys by West Channel, are three notable submerged reefs, from east to west: #Eastern Dry Rocks, at #Rock Key, at # Sand Key, at

References

External links

Census 2000 block statistics
{{authority control Islands of Monroe County, Florida Lists of coordinates Beaches of Monroe County, Florida Islands of the Florida Keys Beaches of Florida Islands of Florida