U.S. 1 South - Key Largo to Islamorada

CR 905 north connects U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway) with Card Sound Road (CR 905A) west to the tolled Card Sound Bridge joining Key Largo with Miami-Dade County.

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Monroe County Road 905 spurs 10.96 miles north to the entrance for the gated Ocean Reef Club community.

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Angling southwest from CR 905, U.S. 1 advances along a commercial strip through the census designated place of Key Largo.

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The unincorporated area of Key Largo was home to over 12,000 as of the 2020 Census. Key Largo was named as such because it is the longest island in the Keys.

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Pedestrian signals operate along Overseas Highway at Bowen Drive for Key Largo Elementary School.

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Reassurance marker posted south of Dolphin Avenue in Key Largo.

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U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway) proceeds one mile south from Sweeting Road to the entrance for John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

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Marvin D. Adams Waterway is a canal joining Blackwater Sound to the west with Largo Sound to the east.

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John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park spreads across 70 nautical miles of mangrove swamps, hammocks and coral reefs. Recreational opportunities include glass bottom boat tours aboard the Spirit of Pennekamp, scuba diving, kayaking, fishing and hiking. The park also hosts a 30,000-gallon saltwater aquarium.

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Tarpon Basin Drive intersects U.S. 1 south from a manufactured home community and across from the entrance to Tradewinds Plaza shopping center.

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U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway) south of Sunset Boulevard.

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HaWK pedestrian signals were installed on U.S. 1 between Bay and Buttonwood Drives after 2015.

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The roadways of U.S. 1 diverge through south Key Largo at Ocean Bay Drive and Atlantic Boulevard.

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Removed by 2011, this distance sign for Islamorada and Layton was posted at mile marker 99 ahead of Thurmond Street in Key Largo.

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Entering the Rock Harbor community of Key Largo on U.S. 1 south. The origins of Rock Harbor date as far back officially as 1909 as a railroad depot along Florida East Coast Railway. The name was applied to the original post office in the area and may relate to the surrounding shallow harbor and its rocky coastline.¹

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U.S. 1 south at Sunset Gardens Drive and mile marker 94 on Key Largo.

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Passing by Hammer Point, U.S. 1 south reaches the census designated place of Tavernier. Originally named Cayo Tabona, or "Horsefly Key", Tavernier appeared on maps produced by the British in 1775.²

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The origin of Tavernier was the communities of Planter and Lowesport on the south end of Key Largo, which arose partly due to the pineapple trade with Cuba. A railroad depot was established at Tavernir in 1908 with the arrival of the Florida East Coast Railroad. The Planter post office was subsequently replaced by the Tavernier post office in 1911.²

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The U.S. 1 roadways separate again through Tavernier ahead of the intersection with Burton Drive. Burton Drive leads east from Overseas Highway to Harry Harris Park. Harris Park includes a man-made beach, fishing pavilions and a boat ramp.

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U.S. 1 intersects Ocean Boulevard at the Tavernier Towne Shopping Center.

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Curving west from Ocean Boulevard, U.S. 1 advances past mile marker 91 at the south end of Key Largo.

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Overseas Highway spans Tavernier Creek west onto Plantation Key. Plantation Key was originally home to native tribes living on the island between 500 and 700 AD. The island later was used for agricultural purposes including the growing of pineapples, which gives it its name.³

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The self proclaimed Sportfishing Capital of the World, Islamorada includes Plantation, Windley, Upper Matecumbe and Lower Matecumbe Keys. Islamorada began in 1907 when settler William Krome platted a subdivision here. Construction of a railroad depot and post office followed in 1908.⁴5

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Curving southward, U.S. 1 south next meets Bessie Road, Plantation Avenue and Sunshine Boulevard. The three roads fan out along canal lined neighborhoods.

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Settlement of Plantation Key followed the construction of the Florida East Coast Railroad, which included a coral rock quarry on the island. The quarry was used both in the building of a bridge between Plantation Key and Lower Matecumbe Key and for a school in Islamorada. Coral Shores School was built on Plantation Key in 1951 as the only high school in the Upper Keys.⁴

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U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway) south after the intersection with Bessie Road, Plantation Avenue and Sunshine Boulevard. The frontage road along the east side of U.S. 1 is the original Overseas Highway and old CR 905.

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U.S. 1 south at Woods Avenue to Florida Keys Community College and Plantation Key School. Built over the Florida East Coast Railway bed, the original Overseas Highway through Islamorada opened on March 28, 1938.⁵

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The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 leveled Islamorada and the Florida East Coast Railroad, but islanders rebuilt and the town grew during the post World War II years.⁵ Islamorada incorporated as village on January 1, 1998,⁴

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U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway) passes by Founders Park one mile ahead of a weigh station. The 40-acre park includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool, beach, ball fields and walking path.

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The southbound reassurance marker for U.S. 1 posted after Founders Park was removed by 2015.

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Preceding Venetian Boulevard, the weigh station on Plantation Key operates along the south side of U.S. 1.

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U.S. 1 ascends across the Snake Creek Bascule Bridge between Plantation Key and Windley Key. The last remaining draw bridge in the Florida Keys was built in 1981.⁶

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Long range plans by FDOT outline replacing the Snake Creek Bascule Bridge with a fixed, high-level span. A PD&E Study for the proposed improvements along U.S. 1 between mile markers 87 and 84 is scheduled for 2026.⁷

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U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway) proceeds 1.6 miles west across Windley Key in Islamorada.

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Lining the north side of U.S. 1, Windley Key Geological State Park was established at a former coral quarry used in the building of the Florida East Coast Railroad. Closed in the 1960s, the quarry features limestone and fossilized coral.

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Windley Key is home to the Theater of the Sea. Established in 1946, the attraction includes a lagoon that was originally a quarry used for the railroad. Featured at the Theater of the Sea are marine animals set in salt-water lagoons amid tropical gardens. Park programs allow visitors to interact with dolphins, sea lions and sting rays.⁸

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Formerly CR 905, the original Overseas Highway loops south around Theater of the Sea on Windley Key.

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Old CR 905 / Overseas Highway returns to U.S. 1 at a formerly signalized intersection near the west end of Windley Key.

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U.S. 1 crosses Whale Harbor Channel south of Wilson Key and Windley Harbor.

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U.S. 1 southbound lowers from the Whale Harbor Joe Roth, Jr. Bridge and mile marker 84 onto Upper Matecumbe Key.

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The section of old Overseas Highway on Upper Matecumbe Key was also inventoried as CR 905. CR 905 parallels U.S. 1 to the south from Hammock Road 3.2 miles to western reaches of the island.

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A number of businesses and residences line U.S. 1 across Upper Matecumbe Key, with more focused on the ocean side then the Florida Bay side. Original settlements along the key focused on the ocean side due to the number of mosquitoes found along the bay side and better sea breezes.⁹

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Located at U.S. 1 and Johnston Road, the Florida Keys Memorial honors military veterans and citizens who died during the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.

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Southbound distance sign posted on U.S. 1 near Parker Drive on Upper Matecumbe Key. The three communities listed are all incorporated.

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Crossing Tea Table Relief Channel, U.S. 1 south leaves Upper Matecumbe Key.

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The small Tea Table Key lies west of Tea Table Relief Channel crossing. A short causeway connects private residences with Overseas Highway from the south.

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U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway) ascends over Tea Table Channel on a bridge built in 1979.

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Overseas Highway continues west from Tea Table Channel to Indian Key Channel along a narrow causeway known as the Indian Key Fill.

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U.S. 1 rises onto Indian Key Irving R. Eyster Bridge north of Indian Key Historic State Park. The first key to be settled, Indian Key was also the first Dade County seat. Dade County included all of the keys east of Bahia Honda from the establishment on February 4, 1836 until 1866.¹¹

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U.S. 1 lowers onto a another narrow causeway west of Indian Key Channel. Nearby Indian Key was home to a number of ship salvaging businesses in the 1830s, which was lucrative given the number of shipwrecks caused by the jagged coral throughout the Keys.¹¹

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Lignumvitae Channel is the last of the four waterways separating Upper and Lower Matecumbe Keys. Lower Matecumbe was surveyed on November 20, 1872 though the name Matecumbe was used to describe the eastern Keys as far as back as 1571.¹²

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The first Overseas Highway reached Lower Matecumbe Key in 1928 where it ended at a ferry crossing. World War I veterans were commissioned to build a bridge westward to Jewfish Bush. Little work was completed by September 2, 1935, when the Labor Day Hurricane all but destroyed their work camps and support structure.¹²

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U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway) runs along the south shoreline of Lower Matecumbe Key by Sandy Cove Avenue and mile marker 75.

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Anne's Beach lies at the western end of Lower Matecumbe Key along the south side of Overseas Highway.

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U.S. 1 shield formerly posted by the parking area for the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail at Channel Number 2.

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U.S. 1 spans Channel 2 at mile marker 73. Paralleling the span to the north is the original Overseas Highway bridge dating from 1938. The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 wiped out 40 miles of the East Coast Railroad, but the steel and concrete bridges built for the railroad line survived. The railroad right-of-way was sold for the replacement Overseas Highway at a cost of $640,000.¹²

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The Overseas Highway opened across Channel 2 west to Craig Key as a toll facility in 1938. A toll plaza operated at the former location of the Lower Matecumbe Key ferry landing.¹²

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Craig Key began as a small fish camp founded by Miami Businessman, and later county commissioner, R.W. Craig in the 1930s. The island was the landfall site of the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 where a record low barometric pressure of 26.35 inches of mercury was recorded. Hurricane Donna also crossed the island in 1960, more or less destroying everything on it.

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