CranePoint.org
Title
Crane Point Hammock - Nature Center - Museums - Historic Site
Description
About Us ...
The Florida Keys Land Trust was created in 1976 by a group of concerned citizens in an effort to save the hardwood hammocks of the Florida Keys. These tropical woodlands, called hammocks, contain both unique hardwood species such as Lignum Vitae and Jamaica Dogwood along with native thatch palms that grow nowhere else in the United States. In August of 1978, the Florida Keys Land Trust was incorporated as a non-profit organization (the name was changed to the Florida Keys Land and Sea Trust several years later) for the purpose of preservation, conservation and the restoration of rare and endangered areas of the Florida Keys.
Over the next ten years small parcels of Keys property were preserved. In 1989 the Trust purchased the 63 acres known as Crane Point, saving this unique piece of Florida from scheduled development as a complex of private homes and a shopping mall. Crane Point is undisputedly an ecological and cultural treasure and is now the largest and most important property owned by the Trust. Sheltered amidst its tropical forest are numerous rare and endangered species as well as unique archaeological and historical riches. The 63 acres is home to a large thatch palm hammock, a hardwood hammock, a mangrove forest, tidal lagoons, wetland ponds and the fauna that is associated with these various ecosystems.
Crane Point harbors evidence of human use dating back well over seven hundred years. The first documented permanent settlers to this particular property were George and Olivia Adderley, who lived here from 1902 until 1949. To learn more about them, please click on the link to the Adderley house.
