Key Biscayne
| Key Biscayne | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Atlantic Ocean | |
| Geographical location | 25 ° 41 '25 " N , 80 ° 9' 54" W | |
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| length | 8 kilometers | |
| width | 2.4 km | |
| Highest elevation | 1.5 m | |
| main place | Key Biscayne | |
Key Biscayne is an island in Miami-Dade County in the US state of Florida between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay . It is located south of Miami Beach and southeast of Miami and is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida. The Key is connected to Miami and the mainland via the Rickenbacker Dam , built in 1947 .
The island is divided into three sections. The northern part of Key Biscayne is home to Crandon Park , which is a county park . The central section of the island is the municipality of Key Biscayne with 12,344 inhabitants (as of 2010). In the southern part of the island is the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park , which is directly adjacent to the Biscayne National Park .
geography
Key Biscayne, although referred to as "Key" , does not belong geologically to the Florida Keys , but is a barrier island made up of eroded sand from the Appalachians . This was transported by rivers to the Atlantic and then migrated southwards along the coast by coastal currents. There is no hard rock on the surface of the island, but only layers of soft “Shelly sandstone ” that reach depths of 30 meters or more. Key Biscayne forms the southern end of the sand transportation system along the coast. In the 1850s, Louis Agassiz noted that "there is no longer any quartz-rich sand to be seen south of Cape Florida ." (The beaches in the Florida Keys consist mainly of finely powdered mussel shells .) Geologists believe the island was around 2000 BC Formed shortly after the end of the sea level rise . The sand carried by the coastal currents began to pile up, forming new barrier islands off the southern coast of Florida.
Key Biscayne extends in a north-south direction, with tapered ends on each side. The island is approximately eight kilometers long and 1.6 to 3.2 kilometers wide. The northern end is separated from another barrier island, Virginia Key , by the Bear Cut . Cape Florida forms the southern end of the island. The Cape Florida Channel separates the island from the Safety Valve , flat sand surfaces cut by tidal channels and extending 14 kilometers south to the Ragged Keys at the northern end of the Florida Keys. Between Key Biscayne and the Ragged Keys, only the 180 by 90 meter Soldier Key is located . The Cape Florida Canal (still 3 to 3.5 meters deep in 1849) and the Bear Cut (about 1 meter deep in 1849) are the deepest natural straits in Biscayne Bay and provided the only access to Biscayne Bay for ocean-going vessels - until artificial canals were dug at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1849 the island had a fine sandy beach on the east side and mangroves and lagoons on the west side. The island is on average 1.5 meters above sea level .
history
The first known human settlement was by Native Americans from the Tequesta tribe. Shells, bones and other artifacts found on the island indicate intensive use and there are indications that a larger settlement existed on the island 1,500 to 2,000 years ago. Archaeological findings for this provided an investigation of the ground exposed in 1992 by Hurricane Andrew at the southern end of the island.
In 1513, Juan Ponce de León mapped Key Biscayne on his first mission to the New World . He baptized the island of Santa Marta and claimed it for the Spanish crown . He reported discovering fresh spring water , which soon led to the island being featured on many nautical charts. Ponce de León named the Biscayne Bay behind the island of Chequescha , which corresponds to a modified form of Tequesta .
The first European settler of Key Biscayne is Pedro Fornells, who moved to the island with his family and household. Pedro and his wife Mariana were Menorcan settlers from the colony in New Smyrna , northern Florida. After escaping from there, they joined other Menorcans who sought refuge in St. Augustine and stayed in that city when Florida returned to Spanish rule in 1783. In 1805 Fornells was granted a royal concession of 71 acres on the south end of Key Biscayne. The concession required Fornells to live on the island and cultivate within six months. He moved his household to the island, but after six months the family returned to St. Augustine, only a caretaker named Vincent remained.
Florida became a US territory in 1821. In 1824, Mary Ann Channer Davis, who moved to St. Augustine with her husband in 1821, acquired Fornell's claims to Key Biscayne from Fornell's heirs for US $ 100. Mary and her husband, William Davis, a US deputy marshal , were likely familiar with plans to build a lighthouse somewhere on the Florida coast between St. Augustine and Key West and knew Key Biscayne would be an option. Mary and William sold 1.25 acres of their newly acquired land on the southern tip of the island (Cape Florida) to the US government for US $ 225. The federal government built the Cape Florida Lighthouse on this piece of land in 1825 .
In 1836, the Seminoles attacked and burned the lighthouse during the Second Seminole War . During the fighting, the lighthouse keeper in charge was seriously injured and his black assistant was killed. In 1846 the US Congress approved US $ 23,000 for the reconstruction of the tower; the work on this was completed in 1847. In 1861, Confederates sabotaged the lighthouse that was supposed to guide Northerners' ships through the waters during the Blockade of Confederate Florida . The lighthouse was repaired and re-lit in 1866. In 1878 the Fowey Rocks Light replaced the Cape Florida Light eleven kilometers southwest of Cape Florida.
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At the beginning of the 20th century, Key Biscayne was the largest coconut plantation in the continental United States . The construction of the Rickenbacker dam in 1947 ensured that the island was accessible to traffic. The dam was named after Edward Vernon Rickenbacker , a successful World War I fighter pilot and president of Eastern Air Lines . In the 1950s, the Mackle Construction Company built hundreds of ranches and country houses for returning Korean War veterans .
In 1992, water dammed up by Hurricane Andrew flooded some homes and businesses in the residential part of Key Biscayne. However, the hurricane's eye wall passed the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, which opened in 1967 in the southern part of the island. The damage was a blessing for the park, as the storm destroyed all the non-native plants that the state had tried for years to eradicate. Thanks to federal and state funding, native vegetation could be replanted, making the park a natural area worth seeing. In recent years several large resort hotels, condominium complexes and shopping centers have been built .
From 1985 to 2018, Key Biscayne hosted the Miami Masters , an important men's tennis tournament . The tournament has been held at the Hard Rock Stadium since 2019 .
literature
- Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. Pineapple Press, Inc., Sarasota, Florida 1996, ISBN 1-56164-096-4 .
Trivia
The film Two aces trump was shot on the island in 1981.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Florida Keys - Biscayne National Park. National Park Service, accessed January 5, 2013 .
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, p. 150.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, p. 75.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, p. 36.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, p. 3.
- ^ Gilbert L. and Nancy A. Voss: An Ecological Survey of Soldier Key, Biscayne Bay, Florida. In: Bulleting of Marine Science of the Gulf and Caribbean. 5 (3): 203-29, 1955, ( Online , English), accessed January 5, 2013.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, pp. 26, 63-68.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, p. 172.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, pp. 5-6.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, p. 9.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, p. 13.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, pp. 17-22.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, pp. 23-27.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, p. 49.
- ^ Joan G. Blank: Key Biscayne. 1996, pp. 159-162.
- ↑ Kellie Westervelt: From Adversity to Diversity: The Cape Florida Project. In: Dave Egan, Evan E. Hjerpe, Jesse Abrams: Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration. Integrating Science, Nature, and Culture. Island Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-59726-689-5 , p. 40.
- ^ Terence Hill: Questions from fans. Retrieved July 19, 2018 .