Key West Ferry

Key West FL is the southernmost city in the continental United States. Key West is a town and island of the same name near the southern tip of Florida and includes the island of the same name, part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1, Sigsbee Park, and Sunset Key.

Many cruise ships that use Key West as a seaport. Key West International Airport also serves the region. Naval Air Station Key West offers a training site for naval aviation.

Key West is officially known to have first and oldest continuous nation gay and lesbian chamber of commerce. Thus, the city's motto "One Human Family"

Kay West was inhabited by ancient people known as the Calusa popular in pre-Columbian times. Juan Ponce de Lea³n was the first European to visit the region and the island was known as Cayo Hueso. It was established as a fishing village and rescue with a small fort to protect the Spanish colony.

Cayo Hueso Key bones literally means "as it is said that the island is littered with the remains of a battlefield or Indian burial ground. We think the name was changed to Key West is an anglicized the word" Hueso "which could result in the west in English. Many businesses on the island use the name.

Great Britain took control of Florida in the late 1700s and moved the Spaniards and Indians in Havana. Florida passed back to the Spanish 20 years later, but they have not formally reinstall. The island was used by fishermen from Cuba and joined by fishermen from the United States.

The island was ceded to Juan Pablo Salis in 1815, but when Florida was moved to Salas United States was willing to sell the island. First, he sold for a value of $ 575 sloop, then a U.S. businessman named Simonton for about $ 2,000. The operator has sold the sloop to a man named Geddes who could not secure the rights to the property because Simonton had with influential friends in Washington and has acquired an indisputable right. Simonton bought the island because he had learned of the opportunities offered by the strategic location. Simonton, the friend of John Whitehead, when stranded on the islands by a shipwreck had seen the deep water port.

Lying 90 in a strategic position on the Strait deep waterway port in Florida is considered the "Gibraltar of the West. Perry said the port in 1822 and physically planted the flag of the United States to claim it as well as the United States. He reported on the problems of piracy and renamed "Thompson Island" and the name of the port "Port Rodgers." Neither the name stuck. In 1823, Commodore David Porter took over and tried to decide in the island as a military dictator under martial law.

Simonton soon divided the island into plots and sold three quarters of each undivided parcel to individuals. Simonton spent the winter in Key West, then went to Washington to lobby for the development of the island and for the establishment of a naval base. Among the other early founders are Forgive Green moved permanently and became a prominent businessman. John Whitehead lived for 8 years and in partnership with Greene in the company of "PC Greene and Company". He left the island for good in 1832 to return once during the civil war. John Fleeming, active in the commercial sector, Ala., was a friend of Simonton. He spent a few months in Key West, before leaving to marry in Massachusetts. He returned to Key West intends to develop the manufacture of blades of the island, but died shortly after. The names of these founding fathers of modern Key West used as names for the island's main arteries.

Many residents of Key West have emigrated from the Bahamas. They were known as counch. They arrived in increasing numbers after 1830. Son and daughters of Loyalists fled to the nearest British soil during the American Re.