An important artifact from the founding of what was then Dade County is headed for public display — in the Florida Keys.
The island of Indian Key, off what is now called Islamorada, was already a settlement in the 1830s. That's when shipwreck salvor Jacob Housman moved there.
WLRN is committed to providing South Florida with trusted news and information. In these uncertain times, our mission is more vital than ever. Your support makes it possible. Please donate today. Thank you.
He had been working out of Key West, 80 miles away.
"His whole ambition in life was to separate from Key West," said Brad Bertelli, curator at the Keys History & Discovery Center in Islamorada.
In Key West, Housman "earned the reputation of being the most unprincipled, dishonest wrecking captain on the reef," according to John Viele's book "The Florida Keys: The Wreckers."
He bought property and eventually moved to Indian Key in the early 1830s. It was smaller than Key West but a relatively large settlement for South Florida, around 50 people.
And it was well situated for handling the cargos from ships that ran aground in the Middle and Upper Keys.
Housman built his own empire and, in 1835, helped lead the effort to get Florida's legislative council to carve a new county. Until then, Monroe County had stretched from Key West up to the South Florida mainland and over to the gulf.
His desire to get out from under Key West's thumb wasn't the only reason, Bertelli said. There was also the problem of traveling for jury duty, especially for those in the small settlements on the mainland.
"If you had great winds, it might take a couple of days to go one way," he said. "If you had bad winds, it might take a week or so."
The new Dade County started at Bahia Honda, in the Lower Keys, and went up to the mainland. Indian Key, as its largest settlement, became the county seat.
Housman died in 1841, reportedly crushed between two boats while working on a wreck. His grave, marked by an eight-by-four-foot marble slab was on Indian Key — but was vandalized and broken into 26 pieces.
Since the 1970s, it's been on Lignumvitae Key. Like Indian Key, that's now a state park but it has a house and on-site staff to keep an eye on things. A facsimile stone marks the gravesite at Indian Key.
Now the original grave marker will be moved to an island in between the two state parks and one connected to the Overseas Highway. It will remain the property of the Florida Park Service but go on display at the Keys History & Discovery Center, which already has a model of Indian Key.
Bertelli said the museum plans a new second-floor exhibit that will include Housman's marker, the Indian Key model and more information about the Upper Keys settlements, including Lignumvitae and Tea Table keys.
"It'll be kind of a more engaged, more thorough look at those state parks and the importance of the history, because all the history of the Upper Keys starts on Indian Key and kind of radiates out from there," Bertelli said. "Key West gets so much attention. And this was really, and I don't say this lightly, it was the most important island in the Florida Keys not named Key West for a good chunk of the 1800s."
The new exhibit is expected to open in September.
