Nature trails, history, and rocks? Actually, it’s fossilized coral and it formed thousands of years ago when the sea levels were much higher and the Florida Keys were under water. Located near Islamorada, Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park, whew, that’s a mouthful, is a great place to enjoy a shade covered walk any time of the year.
Windley Key State Park is located at MM 85 near Islamorada. What was once a quarry to produce crushed rock for the Overseas Railway and later the Overseas Highway is now a 280-acre state park with 1.5 miles of nature trails. Along with nature trails and leftover slabs of coral, there’s vintage equipment that was used to cut the rock out of the ground scattered around the park.
History of Windley Key
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Stay up to date on the events happening in the Florida Keys.
The quarry was started in 1908 and was still in use into the 1960s. The main reason that Henry Flagler bought the quarry in 1908 was to provide fill for the railway that he was building. What they found during their operations was that if you polished the limestone that it would become an attractive stone for building facades. After they were done with the railway, they started producing Key stone as a decorative facade and it was used on many buildings in the Keys, including the Hurricane Monument in Islamorada. If you’re visiting the park, there is Key stone on the visitor’s center at Windley Key.
Trails
There are five easily traversed trails that total approximately 1.5 miles. Each trail has its own section in the guidebook with numbered entries that correspond with points of interest along the trails. If you hike all the trails, you’ll walk through three quarries and the West Indian tropical forest that used to cover much of the Keys. The native plants, trees, and geological features are clearly explained in the guidebook.
The walk is mainly shady, and the trails are wide and made mostly of gravel. The guidebook points out 40 species of native trees and plants that are located throughout the Hammock. They are easy to identify by the drawings in the book and the nameplates on the plants.
The biggest quarry has eight-foot-tall walls that show the cross sections of the 125,000-year-old coral. Up close you can see the fossilized remains of coral that was once alive and made up the ancient reef. On display around the quarry is the equipment that cut the slabs into smaller more manageable sections, and the machine that cut the slabs out of the ground.
Other Things to do in Windley Key State Park
If you’re a birder, then you’ll want to visit Windley Key State Park in the spring or fall when scores of migratory birds such as the Bahama mocking bird use the tropical hammock as a stopping point. During the summer and winter, resident hawks and falcons can be spotted high over the quarry, while warblers and flycatchers flit about in the trees.
Bring your lunch when you visit, there are picnic tables scattered around in the park, some are shaded and are the perfect place to enjoy a meal. The park is dog friendly, so go ahead and bring Rusty, just keep him on a leash. Be sure to go into the visitor’s center for more information about the construction of the Overseas Railway.
Admission is $2.50 per person, and the park is open Thursday through Monday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.. They have a self-guided tour that comes with an over 50-page guidebook, or you can take a ranger-led tour if you are there at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Don’t forget to bring your bug spray, the bugs aren’t bad in the winter, but they can get bothersome and/or suffocating in the spring and summer.
Whether you’re looking for someplace to run on your vacation, you want to learn about the flora and fauna of the Florida Keys or just want to spend some tranquil time in nature, be sure to visit Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park when you’re in Islamorada.
