A shrieking gale and an angry sea, seemingly determined to drown Key Biscayne and everyone on it, drove John Dubose to seek safety in an upper story of the Cape Florida lighthouse. Unlike many seafarers who relied on its beacon for guidance, those dwelling on the Cape survived the September 1835 hurricane. Anything not secured … More The fragile thread
“OUR National Flag,” toasted William A. Whitehead, lifting a glass. “May the stars that compose its union forever remain united and as brilliant as they are now.” If, while standing to deliver this invocation, Whitehead seemed a little unsteady, there would have been neither scandal nor surprise, for in a sequence of thirty-five his toast … More 098–Florida man
SUBLIME as her mysterious nickname, the Lady of the Green Mantle swept into Charleston harbor late in November 1830, there to replenish her supplies of fresh water, salt pork, cheese, hardtack, whiskey and other staples before departing on the next coastwise cruise.1 The crew on board Marion, as the swift vessel was officially called–a tribute to … More 094–Marion
EFFORTS to comprehend their plight, at the moment when long-looming dread turned to unimaginable terror, leave one at a loss for words. Five hundred people, shackled for weeks in the lightless, airless hold of a ship, are startled by the boom of cannons above deck. They hear and feel the creak of straining timbers as … More 093–Out of the depths
GAZING one last time at a pair of large, unfurled sheets of paper, William A. Whitehead traced with his eye the busy waterfront, the streets and buildings depicted on them. Then, possibly with a faint smile, he again rolled them up carefully to be delivered to their final destination. License to imagine such an interlude … More 068–Tift’s Tower
KEY West the island sits upon a bed of limestone a hundred thousand years old. Key West the city has for its foundation poor judgments and worse luck that, less than two centuries ago, with painful regularity piled up seagoing vessels on the Florida Reef. That history created what attorney Charles Walker called “the city … More 067–The fiefdom
WHITE as a catechumen’s robe, St. Paul’s Church gleams against the blue vault of the Key West sky. Just steps from the sanctuary doors passes a spectacle decidedly less pure: the all-hours procession up and down Duval Street. The distance between church and promenade, sacred and profane, seems at once negligible and immense. This incarnation of … More 066–Accessions of much worth
MAJOR Francis L. Dade accepted an urgent salute, and was handed his orders. The six weeks they had needed to travel from St. Augustine to Key West, and Dade’s own month-long leave of absence, meant the orders were no longer new. Poor communications between the mainland and the Keys plagued the military as much as … More 065–Most painful intelligence
SOMETIME in 1833 or thereabouts, citizens of Key West witnessed the opening of a large mound near the island’s western shore. At least ten feet in height “and of considerable circumference,” it stood midway between the custom house and the slight rise of Whitehead’s Point. The collector of customs, William A. Whitehead, who appears to have … More 064–A rising tide
AMID a hoisting of the American ensign, a salute of thirteen guns and a greater number of champagne toasts, Lieutenant Matthew C. Perry in March 1822 extended the dominion of the United States to a desolate coral cay that he named Thompson’s Island, better known before and ever since as the island of Key West.1 … More 063–Light duties
An attractive presence 