Katie+E.--Key+West

Works Cited by: Katie Etheridge Book : Sayre, April Pulley. // Coral Reef. //Brookfield, state: Twenty-first Century, 1996 Book: Readers Digest. // The Most Scenic Drives in America. //Pleasantville, state: Readers Digest Association Key West by: Katie Etheridge Key West is the southernmost city in the United States; it has been home to many famous authors, artists and even a president! Like I said before, Key West is the southernmost city in the U.S. and is an island in the Straits of Florida. Key West is also very close to Cuba. The closet you can get to Cuba now-a-days is Key West. Cuba is only ninety miles from Key West. Cuban Rebels wanting to come to the U.S. have traveled over those waters in countless ways, yet only few have made it. One boat, or logs tied together, made it to the shores of Key West without any people. Key West, before it was owned, was a popular hideaway for pirates. In 1822 John W. Simonton purchased the two-by-four mile island. Later that year he sold parts of the island to his friends. Then they turned it into a military naval base. Since then it has been a naval base to this day and home to a lot of navy families. Since then the navy has built up the island with sand from the bottom of the ocean. This made it two times bigger. Henry Flagler, an American tycoon, real estate promoter, and founder of a college, built a railroad running from the tip of Florida to Key West. Henry Flagler is also known as the father of Miami. Ernest Hemingway is a famous writer that lived in Key West from 1931 to 1961. He was with his second wife Pauline when he moved there from Paris. Ernest wrote most of his books in his house in Key West, it was the first one to have a pool on the island. The pool cost more than the beautiful, big house itself. When Ernest came back from a long trip the pool had been built without his knowing, and he threw a penny on the cement by the pool and said, "Here, take the last penny I've got!" That penny is still there in the cement. Other famous writers and authors lived there too. Most of them did their best work there. Some of those authors are Jimmy Buffet, who wrote his album “Fruitcakes” there. Key West has had to find other sources for things they need such as water, food, and energy. The railway Flagler had built helped that a lot! Key West is a very famous tourist destination since it is the closest you can get to the Caribbean by car. It is a small island with smaller islands scattered all around. Key West is a city in Florida, and yes it is part of the United States. Part of Key West is a naval base and it houses families with people in the navy. There are a lot of things that you can do on vacation there. You could kayak through the crystal blue waters. You could go parasailing over their clear water and climb an inflatable rock climb and jump down to the water. You can look for sharks or dolphins or even snorkel over the third largest coral reef in the world. You could also bike around the island and see scenic views. There are tons of fun things to do in Key West on vacation. Key West is Paradise, U.S.A. and I think it will be for a long time from now. So if you like the things mentioned in this essay, visit Key West today! It takes time to get there, around 15 hours straight from Auburn, Alabama but it is well worth the trip. The views of the water and islands on the Overseas Highway is something you will never forget! southernmost pointsunsetinflatable rock climb map of key west key lime pie, from key westhemingway houseoversea highwaybeach in Key West