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| Is America's 113-mile-long floating highway really the eighth wonder of the world? |
Seagulls squawked overhead as I glided through miles of sparkling waters between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The blue sky seemed to descend into the sea and the water was turquoise as the water receded between the coral and limestone islands.
As I adjusted my sunglasses I caught a faint glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye. A dolphin with a bottle nose! He had friends with him. I looked around and this flock performed its aquatic ballet. They made a bow-like leap before being engulfed by the waves.
Fishing boats were slowly drifting around me and I wanted to see them but it was hard to do while driving 50 miles an hour on the highway.
Traveling from Miami to Florida's 'Key West Island' has not always been as easy as it is today. In the early part of the 20th century, the only way to travel to the southernmost point of the continental United States was by day boat, and even that was at the mercy of the weather and tides.
But thanks to an amazing feat of engineering called the Overseas Highway, which stretches 113 miles from the southern tip of the mainland across 42 bridges between 44 tropical islands, the journey has become more enjoyable.
Passing through it, I felt as if I was apparently floating between mangrove forests and coral reef islands. I drove to the point where North America and the Caribbean meet.
The Overseas Highway actually began as the Oversea Railroad and was the brainchild of visionary developer Henry Morrison Flagler (known as the founder of modern Florida).
In 1870, Flagler, along with business magnate John D. Rockefeller, founded the Standard Oil Company, which became one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. After visiting Florida and recognizing the potential for tourism in 'The Sunshine State', Flagler poured most of his wealth into the region.
They built luxury resorts in the area, making one of America's poorest states a winter destination for Gilded Age travelers from the northeastern United States. Turned into paradise. Yet there was no way for guests to get to Flagler's magnificent but remote resorts.
So in 1885, Flagler built a series of railroads along Florida's Atlantic coast from Jacksonville, on the northern tip of Florida, to Miami, near the southern tip of the state.
The railroad was supposed to end at Miami, but when the United States began construction on the Panama Canal in 1904, Flagler saw great potential for growth in Key West, the closest piece of U.S. land to the canal. It was also the deepest harbor in the southeastern United States.
The coastal area was already thriving thanks to the cigar, sponging, and fishing industries (Key West was Florida's largest city by 1900), but the island's remote location made it difficult to move goods northward. And made it expensive.
So, Flagler decided to take his trek 156 miles south to Key West, much of it in the open ocean. This so-called extension of Key West was considered an impossible project by many of his contemporaries, and his critics dubbed his vision 'Flagler's Folly'.
Between 1905 and 1912, three hurricanes devastated the construction site, killing more than 100 workers. But Flieger's intentions remained steadfast and he continued actively with his plan.
And it cost them 50 million US dollars in seven years to build the railway. For this, he hired 4000 African American, Bahamian, and European immigrants. All these workers faced crocodiles, scorpions, and snakes and were performing the feat under extreme conditions.
When the railway was finally completed in 1912, it was called the 'eighth wonder of the world'. The train's first trip, powered by a wood-fueled engine, reached Key West from Real Miami, and the then 82-year-old Flagler stepped out of his private luxury carriage (which is on display at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach) and reportedly He whispered to a friend: 'Now I can die happy. My dream has come true.'
Florida historian Brad Bertelli said: 'The reality is that Flagler financed [more than $30 million of it] out of his own pocket in those days. Could Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates be able to do that today? Elon Musk with his SpaceX may be their latest comparison.'
The railroad operated until 1935, but then the deadliest hurricane of the century washed away miles of tracks. Instead of rebuilding, the idea reared its head to mark Flagler's feat with America's newfound love of the automobile.
In 1938, the US government began building one of the world's longest waterways, relying on Flagler's seemingly indestructible bridges. This is because the roof could withstand 200 mph winds and hurricanes.
As crews paved the way for cars, the newly opened Overseas Highway forever transformed the remote Florida Keys into the thriving tourist destination it is today.
More than a century after the railroad's completion, 20 of the original bridges still carry passengers from Miami to Key West. You can drive from one place to another in less than four hours, but getting off track is part of the fun.
A fascinating series of under-the-radar stops would have made travelers better appreciate how this engineering marvel might have developed, and the lasting impact it would have had on the Florida Keys.
Key Largo, 68 miles south of Miami, is the northernmost part of the Florida Keys and is the first stop. Gharials, snakes, and other aquatic insects may have terrified Flagler's construction crew, but now Travelers' Largo (the self-proclaimed 'Diving Capital of the World') comes and dives in awe of this marine life.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, adjacent to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, attracts snorkelers and divers eager to immerse themselves in North America's only living coral reefs.
The seagrass beds here provide important habitat for fish, manatees (water buffalo), and sea turtles, but the real attraction is swimming in the expansive reefs of Christ of the Deep, where a 9-foot-tall bronze statue of Jesus is in the water. The statue has been seeing visitors since 1965.
Once you dry off, head to Islamorada, a place halfway between Miami and Key West that was once the site of an Oversea Railroad station. A 35-minute documentary at the Keys History and Discovery Center here highlights the construction of the railroad and its many obstacles.
The museum also houses artifacts from the golden age of the train, including dishes found on the rails, as well as an original menu that lists the price of a piece of beef thigh at $1.60.
Between 1908 and 1912, about 400 workers lived in a camp on Pigeon Cay, a small coral island 35 miles south of Islamorada, while the railroad's most difficult stretch over the ocean, the Seven Mile Bridge (colloquially known as the H. (called the Old Sea) was being constructed and connected the Middle and Lower Keys.
In 1909, civil engineer William J. Croom was assigned the daunting task of constructing a bridge spanning 6.8 miles across open water. Construction crews worked around the clock, trying to drive more than 700 support piles into the middle of the ocean, sometimes as deep as 30 feet below sea level, to build the longest bridge on the road. They were assisted by divers and helped build underwater concrete platforms to support the weight of the railroad tracks.
The remains of the old construction camp can be accessed by taking a trolley over the old bridge. The nearly twenty-two-mile section (the only part that is accessible) reopened in January 2022 after a five-year renovation for $44 million.
Closed to general traffic, the bridge is now safe for people who want to cycle or rollerblade 65 feet above the crystal-clear water or observe marine life such as sea turtles and nurse sharks.
Pigeon Key currently has four permanent residents. The five-acre island is now a National Historic Landmark and runs primarily on solar energy. There is also a museum that offers guided tours of the various buildings and explains what the daily life of the crew was like during the construction of the Seven Mile Bridge.
Travelers on the Overseas Highway know the journey is complete when they see the landmark in Key West.
The museum covers the 500-year history of Key West, showing how this seven-square-mile tropical island transformed from a pirate haven to a trading center and a tourist destination for its residents. is famous. Artifacts from the railway era include the paymaster's car which served as a sort of mobile bank for disbursing salaries to railway employees.
The Eighth Wonder of the Modern World exhibition highlights the evolution of the railway and explains how every obstacle was overcome by pushing the boundaries of early 20th-century technology.
Florida Keys historian and author Dr. Corey Convertito says, "If I had to name the most influential event in the history of the Florida Keys, it would undoubtedly be the completion of Flagler's Oversea Railway." Through their vision, dedication, enterprise, and foresight, the Keys were first connected to American soil. It forever affected the trajectory of the Keys' economy and opened the doors to the tourism industry that existed.