Crane Point Hammock Museum and Nature Trails - Marathon, Florida [April 23, 2023]

 

Endangered Florida Thatch Palms

Before settlers came to the Florida Keys there were areas of abundant hardwood forest, that are called “hammocks”.  63 acres of hammock containing rare and endangered trees and plants are preserved in the Crane Point Hammock Museum and Nature Trails.  

 

Calusa canoe

Native Calusa people were the first to use the area as a fish camp, and left some artifacts behind. 

 

Adderly House, the only tabby structure left in the Keys

The first permanent settlers were a Black Bahamian, George Adderly, and his wife Olivia who purchased 32 acres of Vaca Key for $100 and then built a tabby house in 1903.  Tabby is a kind of homemade cement made out of lime, created by burning wood and shells at high temperatures, mixed with sand and water.  Rocks and shells are put in to give it more mass.  The house is the oldest house in the Keys outside of Key West and the only tabby house remaining in the Keys.  The house has two main rooms and two bedrooms.

Adderly used this "creek" between Vaca and Rachel Keys to navigate to Florida Bay to havest sponges and to sail to Key West

Adderly collected sponges and made charcoal, and sailed his boat periodically to Key West to sell them and buy provisions that he and Olivia could not make on their own.  When the railroad came through, he negotiated a right of way that included a stop on Vaca Key, so he could use the railroad to travel to Key West more efficiently. 

This guy came to visit us at Adderly House.  We were told that racoons don't carry rabies in the Keys.

George Adderly was an Episcopal lay preacher who held services in his home.  At some point, a few other families built wooden houses near his on Vaca Key, forming Adderly Town.  All that remains of these homes are a few tools and household utensils found on the property.  

Built in the Bahamian style, every door or window has a corresponding opening on the other side for ventilation.

Olivia died in 1948 and George sold the property to the Crane family in 1949, moving to a home for the blind in Key West, where he died ten years later.

 

Crane House

Francis and Mary Crane were a Massachusetts couple who fled the New England winters, much as many “snow birds” do today.  They purchased Rachel Key in 1949.  When they purchased the adjoining Vaca Key from Adderly, they consolidated 63 acres of natural hammock.  The land was renamed Crane Point, and they built a house overlooking Florida Bay in 1954.

 

Crane Point (with old work boat)

The Cranes worked to preserve the special ecology and beauty of their wooded hammock.  All around their oasis, forests were being bulldozed in Marathon to make way for homes, hotels and businesses as more people discovered the Keys as a destination.

 

Beautiful hardwood hammock

In 1978,  the property was purchased by the newly formed Florida Land and Sea Trust to protect it from development.  The Crane Point Hammock Museum and Nature Trails has a natural history museum, the two historic houses, several miles of nature trails, and other educational and environmental activities.  Both the Adderly House and the Crane House are on the National Register of Historic Places.  You can walk through the Adderly House.  The Crane House has scheduled tours.

 

The museum has beautiful bronze doors

It was too windy to be out on the water, so we decided to head into Marathon to explore Crane Point, go grocery shopping and have lunch at a Cuban restaurant.  Crane Point has well maintained hiking trails that take you through the forest, past the historic houses, and along the point.  You can learn about interesting trees through signs along the way.

 

Black Mangrove "straw" roots snorkel up out of the water or mud to get oxygen

Crane Point is right off of Route 1 in the center of Marathon.  There is a shopping center with a grocery story directly across the street.  Marathon is a busy city at the north end of the 7-mile Bridge with an airport, hotels, time shares, condos, restaurants and businesses.

 

Dense foliage

After spending so much time on the edge of the ocean, it was really fun to have closer vistas of dense foliage, and the background songs of birds.  We love the stories of these kinds of parks, where individuals work to preserve a special, natural place. 

This huge spider built its' web across the trail!