Summerland Key is an island in the lower Florida Keys about east of Key West; it contains an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Monroe County of the same name. U.S. 1 (or 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 Rail ...

) crosses the island at approximately mile markers 24–25.5, between Ramrod Key and Cudjoe Key. The name appears on

U.S. Coast Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...

chart #169 in 1878.

Community

Summerland Key is a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

located almost midway between the larger communities of Marathon and Key West. It is home to the Brinton Environmental Center of the

Florida National High Adventure Sea Base Sea Base, formerly known as Florida National High Adventure Sea Base, is a high adventure program base run by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in the Florida Keys. Its counterparts are the Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico, the N ...

and is a

field station Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fi ...

for

Mote Marine Laboratory Mote Marine Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit, marine research organization based on City Island in Sarasota, Florida, with additional campuses in eastern Sarasota County, Boca Grande, Florida, and the Florida Keys. Founded in 1955 by Eug ...

. A private, 2550-foot community

airstrip An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

br> (FD51)
is located just south of the

on West Shore Drive at mile marker 25. Some commercial fishing has occurred on Summerland Key.

History

Beginning in 1948, Henry Hudgins, the father of modern Summerland Key, started developing Summerland from an uninhabited tropical wilderness to an upscale residential neighborhood. While Hudgins was the chief structural engineer for the City of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, he met Waren Niles, whose family owned a large part of Summerland since the 1900s. In 1941, the Niles family notified Hudgins they were considering selling their Summerland property. By 1947, Hudgins had made an offer of $100,000 for the purchase of the Niles property and the family sold their Summerland

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

to Hudgins. In the fall of 1948 two

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s hit the Lower Keys with

tidal surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

s that rose six feet and caused much flood damage to the area. After Hudgins saw the high water mark on Summerland he decided that homes built in his development would have to be elevated. He purchased two surplus military buildings and had his construction crews secure them atop utility poles at the foot of what is Dobie Street today. This was not only the Hudgins family's first home on Summerland, but also one of the first homes in the Keys on stilts — if not the first in all the Keys.

Building code A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards for constructed objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permiss ...

today requires all homes be built elevated to be above the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

. Hudgins drew up plans for streets and canals for the development and began dredging operations to form the canals. Unhappy with the results of the dredge, Hudgins developed a new technique that was later adopted for digging all the man made canal of the Keys. During the development of Summerland Key, the nearest

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

was on Ramrod Key and had been there since 1919. After years of serious effort to get a post office on Summerland, Hudgins got his chance. After the postmaster of the Ramrod post office retired, she suggested that it be moved to Summerland and Hudgins was named postmaster. Hudgins' wife Mary learned to fly and kept a plane in Marathon. After meeting Philip Toppino of Toppino Brothers construction on Rockland Key, who also liked flying, Toppino suggested that Hudgins build an air strip on Summerland. Around 1956, Hudgins and Toppino formed a partnership and developed a section of Summerland, named Summerland Cove, with a landing strip flanked by homes on both sides and canals behind the homes. As property began to sell in his development, Hudgins moved his family to a small wooden home on Center Street to be closer to the post office. The home still stands there today. In the late 1950s, Hudgins purchased the property to build his dream home, Hermitage, on property facing Niles Channel once owned by the Garibaldi Niles homestead. Designed by Hudgins, the home sat on concrete pillars with a porch facing the channel. The home was designed to withstand 150 mph winds and Hermitage still stands today. Hudgins was only able to enjoy his creation for a few years; he died in 1962. Lasting legacies to Hudgins include his airstrip off West Shore Drive, Henry Street (named for him), Dobie Street (named for his second wife), and Hermitage — Hudgins's dream home on Niles channel. Summerland Key was also home to singer-songwriter

Fred Neil Fred Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American folk singer-songwriter active in the 1960s and early 1970s. He did not achieve commercial success as a performer and is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material& ...

, composer of " The Dolphins" and "

Everybody's Talkin' "Everybody's Talkin (Echoes)" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Fred Neil in 1966 and released two years later. A version of the song performed by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson became a hit in 1969, reachin ...

." Neil died here in July 2001.

References

{{authority control Islands of the Florida Keys Islands of Monroe County, Florida Islands of Florida Unincorporated communities in Monroe County, Florida Populated coastal places in Florida on the Atlantic Ocean Unincorporated communities in Florida