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West Summerland Key is part of the lower Florida Keys.
U.S. Route 1 (or the Overseas Highway) crosses the key at approximately mile markers 34--36, between Bahia Honda Key and Big Pine Key.
Originally, there were three keys at this location. They were connected by fills at the time the Overseas Railroad was built. The Keys were West Summerland Key (westernmost), Middle Summerland Key (center), and no name is known for the easternmost key. West Summerland retains its name, but the other two are known simply as the Spanish Harbor Keys; named for the anchorage located between this key and Big Pine Key. Interesting features of this key include Indian mounds and storage buildings still standing from the Flagler Railway construction era. There is no known connection between the naming of Summerland Key and West Summerland Key. Confusingly, West Summerland Key is about 10 miles east of Summerland Key.
It is the site of two adjoining Scout camps, Boy Scout Camp Sawyer and Girl Scout Camp Wesumkee. Camp Wesumkee is the site of the Winter Star Party, an annual gathering of amateur astronomers.
Its ecology has suffered recent hurricane damage. The dock at Camp Sawyer which was rebuilt after a 2004 storm became, in turn, scrap lumber in 2005. The storm surges came in from the east and eliminated many more trees on the Camp Wesumkee side of the Key that at Camp Sawyer, which still had many fifty year old buttonwood trees taken out.
| Edit |
Florida Keys |
| Biscayne National Park |
Soldier Key, Ragged Keys, Boca Chita Key, Sands Key, Elliott Key, Adams Key, Old Rhodes Key, City of Islandia |
| Upper keys |
Key Largo (island), North Key Largo (CDP), Key Largo (CDP), Tavernier (CDP), Plantation Key (island), Plantation Key (former CDP), Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Lignumvitae Key, Lower Matecumbe Key, Village of Islamorada |
| Middle keys |
Craig Key, Fiesta Key, Long Key, City of Layton, Conch Key, Duck Key (CDP), Grassy Key, Crawl Key, Long Point Key, Fat Deer Key, Key Vaca, City of Marathon, City of Key Colony Beach, Boot Key, Knight's Key, Pigeon Key |
| Lower keys |
Little Duck Key, Missouri Key, Ohio Key, Sunshine Key, Bahia Honda Key, Spanish Harbor Keys, West Summerland Key, No Name Key, Big Pine Key (CDP), Little Torch Key, Middle Torch Key, Big Torch Key, Ramrod Key, Summerland Key, Knockemdown Key, Cudjoe Key (CDP), Sugarloaf Key, Park Key, Lower Sugarloaf Key, Saddlebunch Keys, Shark Key, Geiger Key, Big Coppitt Key (CDP), East Rockland Key, Rockland Key, Boca Chica Key, Key Haven, Stock Island (CDP), Key West, Sunset Key |
| Outlying islands |
Dry Tortugas, Marquesas Keys |
| Areas |
Florida Bay, Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, National Key Deer Sanctuary, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Biscayne Bay, Biscayne National Park, Key West National Wildlife Refuge, Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge |
| Other topics |
Monroe County, Conch Republic, Overseas Highway, Overseas Railroad, Card Sound Bridge, Seven Mile Bridge, Bahia Honda Bridge, Theater of the Sea, Hurricane Georges, Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Key Deer, Ocean Reef Club, Key lime pie |
