Scout Key is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the lower

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 ...

. It was previously known as West Summerland Key until 2010. U.S. 1 (the

Overseas Highway The Overseas Highway is a highway carrying U.S. Route 1 (US 1) through the Florida Keys to Key West. Large parts of it were built on the former right-of-way of the Overseas Railroad, the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Ra ...

) crosses the key at approximately

mile marker A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...

s 34–35, between Spanish Harbor Key and

Big Pine Key Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big'', a 2023 Taiwanese children's film starring Van Fan and Chie Tanaka * ''Big!'', a Discovery ...

Etymology

The Key was renamed to reflect the two adjoining scout camps on it, Boy Scout Camp Sawyer and Girl Scout Camp Wesumkee. The name change also removed some confusion about its location – despite its name, the formerly-named West Summerland Key is actually about 10 miles ''east'' of

Summerland Key Summerland Key is an island in the lower Florida Keys about east of Key West; it contains an unincorporated community of Monroe County of the same name. U.S. 1 (or the Overseas Highway) crosses the island at approximately mile markers 24–2 ...

Geography

Originally, there were three keys at this location. They were connected by fills at the time the

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 ...

was built. The keys were West Summerland Key (westernmost), Middle Summerland Key (center), and no name is known for the easternmost key. West Summerland retained its name, but the other two are known simply as the Spanish Harbor Keys; named for the

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

age located between this key and

. Interesting features of this key include

indian mound Many pre-Columbian cultures in North America were collectively termed "Mound Builders", but the term has no formal meaning. It does not refer to specific people or archaeological culture but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks that in ...

s, and storage buildings still standing from the Flagler

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

era.

Environment

In 2017, Category 4

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...

destroyed much of the fragile mangroves and dunes on the key, reshaping the Atlantic shoreline. A few buildings were crushed and other damaged in both Scout camps. The swimming platform at the Sawyer camp had to be rebuilt yet again after the most recent rebuilds in 2004 and 2005.

Attractions

Camp Wesumkee is the site of the

Winter Star Party The Winter Star Party, aka WSP, is an annual convention of amateur astronomers where the primary activity is nighttime astronomical observation. This February event is run at Camp Wesumkee located on Scout Key in the Lower Florida Keys. It is host ...

, an annual gathering of amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

The eastern end of the key has a small parking area on the Atlantic that allows access to the old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge, which is a popular photography spot among tourists and locals also known as "Broken Bridge".

Etymology

Geography

Environment

Attractions

References

Further reading