1 of 3 The 44 Island Floating Road changed Florida forever Photo: GETTY IMAGES The 44 Island Floating Road changed Florida forever Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Seagulls populate the sky as I cross miles of sparkling water somewhere between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Near the channels between the coral and limestone islands, the sky merges with the bluegreen sea, which becomes turquoise as the depth decreases.
A blue immensity stretches as far as the eye can see.
As I adjust my sunglasses, I catch a glimpse of sudden movement out of the corner of my eye: a bottlenose dolphin.
The dolphin was with his friends and the group was soon performing a water ballet, jumping in graceful arcs before plunging back into the waves.
Fishing boats were sailing slowly around me and I wanted to cast a line, but that would have been difficult if I was driving my car at 50 miles an hour on the freeway.
The journey from Miami to the island of Key West in Florida (USA) was not always as carefree as it is today.
In the early 20th century, the only way to get to the southernmost point of the United States was by boat, which took a full day, depending on the weather and tides.
But thanks to a breathtaking engineering marvel — the 182kilometer Overseas Highway at the southern tip of the United States, which spans 44 tropical islands with 42 bridges — I feel like I’m floating along a chain of sand islands and mangroves as I head towards to the point where I arrive North America and the Caribbean meet.
railway dream
2 of 3 The Overseas Highway connects 44 tropical islands Photo: GETTY IMAGES The Overseas Highway connects 44 tropical islands Photo: GETTY IMAGES
The Overseas Highway actually began as the OverSea Railroad. The railroad was founded by visionary entrepreneur Henry Morrison Flagler (18301913), known as the “Father of Modern Florida.”
In 1870, Flagler cofounded the Standard Oil Company with business magnate John D. Rockefeller (18391937). The company would become one of the largest and most powerful in the world by the early 20th century.
After visiting Florida and realizing the tourism potential of the “Sunshine State,” Flagler invested much of his money in the region, building luxury resorts that transformed one of the poorest states in the United States into a winter paradise for travelers of the American Golden Age, coming from the northeast of the country.
However, there was no way to get guests to Flagler’s luxurious resorts, which were located in remote locations.
To this end, in 1885 he connected a series of railroad lines along Florida’s Atlantic coast, connecting Jacksonville in the state’s far north to Miami near the southern tip.
Miami would have been the end of the road. But when the United States began building the Panama Canal in 1904, Flagler realized that Key West had tremendous potential—the closest piece of American land to the Canal and the deepest port in the southeastern United States.
By this time, the place was already a thriving and thriving center thanks to the cigar industry, sea sponge extraction and fishing. In fact, Key West was Florida’s largest city until 1900.
But the island’s remote location made it difficult and expensive to ship goods to the north of the state.
Flagler then decided to extend the railroad line 155 miles (251 km) south to Key West. Most of the route would be across open water across the Florida Keys.
The construction of the socalled Key West Branch Line was considered impossible by many of his contemporaries. His vision has been dubbed “Flagler’s Madness” by critics.
Between 1905 and 1912, three hurricanes hit the site, killing over 100 workers. But the tireless Flagler kept going.
It took seven years to build and cost US$50 million (US$1.56 billion in today’s terms, or about R$7.8 billion).
Four thousand African American, European, and Bahamian immigrants had to deal with alligators, snakes, and scorpions under harsh working conditions while building the railroad.
The railway was finally completed in 1912 and is considered the “eighth wonder of the world”.
On the maiden voyage, a steam locomotive arrived in Key West and brought Flagler from Miami. At the age of 82, he jumped out of his private luxury carriage and reportedly whispered to a friend, “I can die happy. My dream came true.”
The luxury car used by Flagler is currently on display at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida.
“The fact that Flagler funded it [mais de US$ 30 milhões] “The money that we had to pay out of pocket at the time was quite remarkable,” says Florida historian Brad Bertelli.
“Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates could have done it today. Elon Musk with his SpaceX is perhaps the best modern analogy.”
The railroad operated until 1935, when the deadliest hurricane in a century destroyed miles of track.
Rather than being rebuilt, Flagler’s masterpiece entered a new phase to accommodate America’s newfound love for automobiles.
In 1938, the US government decided to build one of the longest waterways in the world, utilizing Flagler’s seemingly indestructible bridges, which could withstand winds of up to 200 mph.
Workers paved the tracks to accommodate the cars, and the Overseas Highway forever transformed the farflung Florida Keys so that they could become the thriving tourist destination they are today.
3 of 3 The Overseas Highway was originally a railroad Photo: GETTY IMAGES The Overseas Highway was originally a railroad Photo: GETTY IMAGES
The journey and sights along the way
More than a century after the railroad opened, 20 of the original 42 bridges still carry travelers from Miami to Key West.
The journey can be completed in under four hours, but stops are part of the fun. A series of fascinating offthebeatentrack stops help visitors better understand this engineering marvel and its lasting impact on the archipelago.
Located 70 miles south of Miami, Key Largo is the northernmost island in the Florida Keys and the first major stop on the route.
Alligators, snakes, and other aquatic creatures may have frightened Flagler workers, but these days travelers come to Key Largo (selfproclaimed “the diving capital of the world”) for the bounty of marine life.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park attract divers looking to explore North America’s only living coral reef.
Seagrasses are an important habitat for fish, manatees and sea turtles. The star attraction, however, is the Cristo do Abyss — a 9foottall, sunken bronze statue of Jesus Christ that has lured visitors for a swim around its outstretched arms since 1965.
After toweling off, head to the community of Islamorada, halfway between Miami and Key West. There was one of the OverSea Railroad stations.
Islamorada is home to the Keys History and Discovery Center, where you can watch a 35minute documentary about the construction of the railroad and its many obstacles.
The museum also displays artifacts from the golden age of trains, including dining car dishes and an original menu from the time when sirloin steak was sold for $1.60.
We continued the journey. Between 1908 and 1912, about 400 workers lived in a camp on Pigeon Key, a tiny coral island 35 miles (56 km) south of Islamorada. They built the most difficult part of the railroad: the famous Seven Mile Bridge (popularly “Old Seven” in English) an 11 km long bridge connecting the central islands with the southern Florida Keys.
In 1909 civil engineer William J. Krome (18761929) was given the daunting task of crossing seven miles of open water.
Construction crews worked 24 hours a day, installing more than 700 support piers in the middle of the sea, some up to nine meters below sea level, to build the longest bridge on the railroad.
They were assisted by divers who helped erect underwater concrete bases to support the weight of the railway line.
The remains of the old construction camp can be viewed by taking the train across the old bridge from Marathon Town to Pigeon Key.
The route is 3.5 km long and is the only accessible part of the original bridge. It reopened in January 2022 after a fiveyear, $44 million (about R$220 million) renovation.
The formerly derelict bridge was closed to traffic (except for the small train) and is now a safe route for bikes and rollerblades, 20 meters above the crystal clear sea water or for spotting marine life such as turtles and nurse sharks.
Only four permanent residents currently live on Pigeon Key. The twoacre island is now a United States National Historic Landmark. Solar energy is mainly used there.
Pigeon Key is also home to a museum that offers tours of several structures that once housed workers and tells what daily life was like for the teams that built the Seven Mile Bridge.
Arrive at the southern end
Travelers who travel the length of the Overseas Highway today know the journey ends when they see Ground Zero on the US1 Highway in Key West.
The black and white buoy marks the southernmost point of the United States, meaning visitors are now closer to Cuba (90 miles south) than Miami (130 miles north).
From here, many tourists quickly make their way to the city’s main thoroughfare, Duval Street, or to the Ernest Hemingway House Museum. But a look at the Sails to Rails Museum is also worthwhile small but full of information.
The museum tells 500 years of Key West’s history and shows how this 18 km² tropical island developed from a pirate paradise to a commercial center and tourist destination known for its laidback atmosphere.
Artifacts from the railroad era include the wage wagon a type of bank on wheels that pays wages to railroad workers. Entitled ‘Eighth Wonder of the Modern World’, the exhibition traces the evolution of the railway and explains how each obstacle was overcome and the technology available at the beginning of the 20th century was pushed to its limits.
“If I were to single out the most important event in the history of the Florida Keys, it would undoubtedly be the construction of the OverSea Railroad.” [Henry M.] Flagler,” says Dori Convertito, author and historian of the Florida Keys.
“It was his vision, dedication, entrepreneurship and vision for the future that first connected the Florida Keys to the Americas. The commercial and commuting benefits for islanders and visitors are undeniable,” he said.
“She forever impacted the development of the Florida Keys economy and opened the door to the tourism industry we have today.”