1822: Excerpt from the Logbook of the U.S. Schooner Shark LCDR M.C. Perry commanding: Remarks, Monday, May 6th. Light variable adverse winds, a continuance of which I anticipate for a
1822: Excerpt from the Logbook of the U.S. Schooner Shark LCDR M.C. Perry commanding: Remarks, Thursday, May 2nd [Tampico, cont’d.] from the Bar, the Second 2 miles. The Public Authorities
1856: William Hackley recorded in his diary. Rose at 5:15 and bathed. At 8 a.m. barometer 29.53, thermometer 83.5, wind east southeast 3, clouds 3. The Planter went out early this morning. Bought $5.00 worth of ice tickets. The steamer Jasper came in about 8 a.m. She is chartered by the U.S. Quartermaster Department and is commanded by J.P. Smith. She has been put in first rate order. She went out at 6 p.m. bound to Miami. Filed an answer for Antonio Acchs (Axe) in the case of H. Williams vs. a boat. The case of Stephen Case vs. C. Curtis was called and the morning occupied in arguing a plea to the jurisdiction. The steamer Isabel got in late (7 p.m.).
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first undersea park in the United States, has become a national treasure, eliciting images of the Christ of the Deep statue submerged in cerulean blue waters teeming with majestic fish.
Equally as beautiful, but often overlooked, is the history of the Key Largo park and how it was created 60 years ago and what it has evolved into today.
The park was largely conceived after Key Largo and its waters were carved out of the original plans for Everglades National Park due to opposition from Monroe County officials. Ten years after the national park was founded in 1947, a group of conservationists and Key Largo residents, led by former Miami Herald associate editor John Pennekamp Sr., renewed efforts to protect the reef.