Free previewStop 8 of Key West Walking Tour: Mallory Square to the Southernmost Point
The Southernmost Point That Isn't
You're standing at the corner of Whitehead Street and South Street, at the end of the walk, and probably at the end of a line of people waiting for a photo. The reason is that fat concrete buoy painted in bright bands, about 12 feet tall, with the words Southernmost Point, Continental U.S.A. Now look just to its east, at the small cement hut by the water. Hold that thought. We'll come back to it.
For years this corner had only a wooden sign. Around 1970 it read, modestly, The Southernmost Point, of Southernmost City. By 1982 someone had made it bolder: The Southernmost Point, In USA. On a fence nearby, a separate little sign pointed south with an arrow and three words of promise: 90 Miles to Cuba.
Then, on September 10, 1983, the City of Key West dedicated the big concrete buoy.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 8 of Key West Walking Tour: Mallory Square to the Southernmost Point (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
