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Key West is the southern most city in the United States. It sits on the last major island at the end of the Florida Keys.

KEY WEST, Florida

Dave
2004-02-22 12:50:47

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Key West is the southern most city in the United States. It sits on the last major island at the end of the Florida Keys. The weather ranges from balmy, hot, & humid to quite pleasant in the winter months. The rainy season is in the summer time. The dry season is during the winter months. Temperatures in Key West during the middle of January often are in the low 80's when the rest of the nation is being blanketed by snow drifts or is fighting floods. The humidity tends to be the lowest during the winter months. During the summer months the humidity is quite high, the temperatures hover around the high 80's or low 90's and rain showers come often. The hurricane season officially begins in July, but most of the dangerous hurricanes arrive in August and September.

Key West was discovered by Ponce de Leon on May 13, 1513. In later years Key West became home to many pirates. As recently as the seventies and early 80's smugglers were using Key West to unload their drugs. Key West was once the richest city in Florida, in the late 1880's. "Wrecking" used to be a profitable job in Key West in the early 1800's. This involved salvaging treasure from many of the sunken vessels that litter the bottom of the local waters. Cigar factories were extremely profitable in the late 1880's and Key West was the cigar capital of the world.

As with the other Keys, Key West is built on an old coral reef. This means the soil quality is rather poor. Most people in the Keys have to pay high prices for water because it is taken directly from the ocean and then desalinated. For the most part the Keys do not have their own aquifers and water needs to be taken from the ocean. Unlike the rest of the United States the price for water is higher than the price for electricity.

Highway One which is the only road leading to and out of Key West is an interesting and enjoyable ride. It is marked ...