Southernmost Point Buoy

Description

Before the concrete buoy there was a wooden sign that noted the southern point at this spot. The old wood sign as of 1970 only said "The Southernmost Point, of Southernmost City, Key West Fla." By 1982 this had changed to "The Southernmost Point, In USA, Key West Fla". There was separate sign on a nearby fence in that area, with an arrow pointing south (in this case to the left) with the text "90 Miles to Cuba".

The buoy is maintained by the Key West Public Works Department and it was dedicated on September 10, 1983. The painted concrete buoy is 12 ft tall and 7 ft wide.

Next to the marker is a cement telegraph hut. This hut housed an underwater telephone cable that connected Key West to Havana in 1921. The cable hut is a small structure just east of the marker where the cable went into the sea.

, the buoy is painted with the text:

The buoy was refurbished in 2005. The phrases "90 miles to Cuba" and "Home of the Sunset" were not on the 1986 paint job.

In November 1983, the text did not include the line "90 miles to Cuba", which was still written on a smaller sign on fence next to the buoy. Next to the buoy, also as of November 1983, there was a script "America Begins" painted on a curb below the 90 miles to Cuba sign. Also at that time the buoy did not include the text "Home of the Sunset". (see also Mallory Square, which hosts Key West sunset celebration)

By the 2010s, there was a webcam that relays video of the street corner where the buoy is located to the Internet.

The buoy paint job was done by local painter-artist Danny Acosta, and the city of Key West hired him to paint again after it was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017.

On New Year's Day 2022, the buoy was vandalized, resulting in "extensive damages"; a camera operated by Two Oceans Digital helped find the two vandals, both of whom faced over $1,000 in damages for criminal mischief.

Accuracy

Main article: List of extreme points of the United States#Southernmost points

A more southern part of Key West Island exists and is publicly accessible: the beach area of Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park at approximately , and approximately 500 ft farther south than the marker.

Further south, land on the Truman Annex property, just west-southwest of the buoy, is the true southernmost point on the island (approximately 900 ft farther south near , but it has no marker since it is U.S. Navy property and cannot be entered by civilian tourists.

Finally, the true southernmost point in Florida (as well as in the continental United States) is actually 10 mi away at Ballast Key , an island south and west of Key West.

The claim on the buoy stating "90 miles to Cuba" may be a rounded number, since Cuba, at its closest point is 94 smi due south. One book author suggests they meant 90 nmi, the distance from Key West to Havana, Cuba.

In popular culture

In Callahan's Key (2001) by Spider Robinson the monument is mentioned in the line "The famous, oft-photographed marker at The Southernmost Point which is not."

A subplot of Robert Tacoma's second novel, Key Weirder (2005), involves an interstate dispute over where the true southernmost point is located, and, therefore, where the monument should be placed.

A similar marker in the Northwest Angle of Minnesota was created to indicate the northernmost point in the contiguous United States.

References

References

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2. "Key West Vacation Rentals, House Rentals | Professionally Cleaned".
3. [http://search.cityguide.aol.com/southflorida/entertainment/southernmost-point/v-62419] {{dead link. (May 2018)
4. Turner, Jim. "Gov. Scott declares Florida Keys 'absolutely open' for tourists". OrlandoSentinel.com.
5. "Top Orlando News, Weather, Sports, Entertainment".
6. "Southernmost Point & Buoy".
7. Streisand, Gordon. (2017). "111 Places in Miami and the Keys that you must not miss". Emons Verlag.
8. "Street vending at the Southernmost point - Key West, Floridaf".
9. "Florida Memory - Sign at the "Southernmost Point" - Key West, Florida".
10. "Conch shells and sponges for sale at the Southernmost Point in Key West, Florida.".
11. (27 May 2011). "True Secrets of Key West Revealed!". Lulu.com.
12. (2010-02-01). "Explorer's Guide South Florida: Includes Sarasota, Naples, Miami & the Florida Keys". The Countryman Press.
13. "Visiting the Southernmost Point". myajc.
14. "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - Key West".
15. "Florida Memory - Key West Fire Department new ladder truck being flow tested at the Southernmost Point - Key West, Florida".
16. "Scene at the "Southernmost Point" at South and Whitehead streets - Key West, Florida".
17. Dwilson, Stephanie Dube. (2017-09-08). "Hurricane Irma Live Stream: Watch the Storm on Florida Web Cams Online". Heavy.com.
18. (January 2, 2022). "Iconic Southernmost Point landmark vandalized in Key West". [[The Hill (newspaper).
19. (17 May 2008). "National Weather Service Forecast Office - WFO Key West, Florida".
20. Nyad, Diana. (2016-06-28). "Find a Way: The Inspiring Story of One Woman's Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
21. Robinson, Spider. "Callahan's Key". Spectra.
22. "The Northernmost Point Marker at the NW Angle of Lake of the Woods MN - Lake of the Woods".
23. (2021-08-31). "The Northernmost Point of the Continental U.S. ...Is Only Accessible Via Canada?".