Scout Key

Scout Key is an island in the lower Florida Keys, previously known as West Summerland Key until 2010.

The Key was renamed to reflect the two adjoining scout camps on it, Boy Scout Camp Sawyer and Girl Scout Camp Wesumkee. Camp Wesumkee is the site of the Winter Star Party, an annual gathering of amateur astronomers. The name change also removed some confusion about its location – despite its name, West Summerland Key is about 10 miles east of Summerland Key.

U.S. 1 (the Overseas Highway) crosses the key at approximately mile markers 34—35, between Spanish Harbor Key and Big Pine Key.

Originally, there were three keys at this location. They were connected by fills at the time the Overseas Railroad was built. The keys were West Summerland Key (westernmost), Middle Summerland Key (center), and no name is known for the easternmost key. West Summerland retained its name, but the other two are known simply as the Spanish Harbor Keys; named for the anchorage located between this key and Big Pine Key. Interesting features of this key include indian mounds, and storage buildings still standing from the Flagler railway construction era.

Its ecology has suffered recent hurricane damage. The swim platform at Camp Sawyer which was rebuilt after a 2004 storm became, in turn, scrap lumber in 2005. The storm surges came in from the east and eliminated many more trees on the Camp Wesumkee side of the Key than at Camp Sawyer, which still had many fifty-year-old buttonwood trees taken out.

Florida Keys
Biscayne National Park
  • Soldier Key
  • Ragged Keys
  • Boca Chita Key
  • Sands Key
  • Elliott Key
  • Adams Key
  • Caesar's Rock
  • Meig's Key
  • Rubicon Keys
  • Reid Key
  • Porgy Key
  • Totten Key
  • Old Rhodes Key
  • City of Islandia
Upper keys
  • Key Largo (island)
  • Key Largo (CDP)
  • North Key Largo (CDP)
  • Tavernier (CDP)
  • Plantation Key (island)
  • Plantation Key (former CDP)
  • Windley Key
  • Upper Matecumbe Key
  • Tea Table Key
  • Indian Key
  • Lignumvitae Key
  • Lower Matecumbe Key
  • Village of Islamorada
Middle keys
  • Craig Key
  • Fiesta Key
  • Long Key
  • City of Layton
  • Conch Key
  • Little Conch Key
  • Duck Key (island)
  • Duck Key (CDP)
  • Grassy Key
  • Crawl Key
  • Long Point Key
  • Fat Deer Key
  • Key Vaca
  • City of Marathon
  • City of Key Colony Beach
  • Boot Key
  • Knight's Key
Lower keys
  • Pigeon Key
  • Money Key
  • Little Duck Key
  • Missouri Key
  • Ohio Key
  • Sunshine Key
  • Bahia Honda Key
  • Spanish Harbor Key
  • Scout Key (West Summerland Key)
  • No Name Key
  • Big Pine Key (CDP)
  • Little Torch Key
  • Middle Torch Key
  • Big Torch Key
  • Ramrod Key
  • Summerland Key
  • Knockemdown Key
  • Cudjoe Key (CDP)
  • Sugarloaf Key
  • Park Key
  • Lower Sugarloaf Key
  • Saddlebunch Keys
  • Shark Key
  • Geiger Key
  • Big Coppitt Key (island)
  • Big Coppitt Key (CDP)
  • East Rockland Key
  • Rockland Key
  • Boca Chica Key
  • Raccoon Key
  • Stock Island (island)
  • Stock Island (CDP)
  • Key West (island)
  • Key West (city)
  • Sigsbee Park
  • Fleming Key
  • Sunset Key
  • Wisteria Island
Outlying Islands
  • Mule Keys (with Mule Key, Crawfish Key, Archer Key, Joe Ingram Key, Big Mullet Key, Barracouta Key, Cottrell Key, Man Key, Little Mullet Key, Ballast Key, Woman Key, Boca Grande Key)
  • Marquesas Keys
  • Dry Tortugas
  • Tortugas Bank
Areas
  • Florida Bay
  • Dry Tortugas National Park
  • Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
  • National Key Deer Refuge
  • John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
  • Biscayne Bay
  • Biscayne National Park
  • Key West National Wildlife Refuge
  • Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge
  • Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge
  • Florida Reef
Other Topics
  • Monroe County
  • Conch Republic
  • Overseas Highway
  • Overseas Railroad
  • Card Sound Bridge
  • Jewfish Creek Bridge
  • Seven Mile Bridge
  • Bahia Honda Rail Bridge
  • Fort Jefferson
  • Theater of the Sea
  • Hurricane Wilma
  • 1935 Labor Day hurricane
  • Key Deer
  • Key lime pie
  • Florida Keys Keynoter
  • Key West Citizen

Coordinates: 24°38′59″N 81°18′39″W / 24.649855°N 81.310887°W / 24.649855; -81.310887


Famous quotes containing the words scout and/or key:

    “Simone Clouseau: Jacques would make a wonderful father. He has many redeeming qualities, you know.
    Sir Charles: Name one.
    Simone Clouseau: Oh, he’s kind, loyal, faithful, obedient.
    Sir Charles: You’re either married to a boy scout or a dachshund.”
    —Blake Edwards (b. 1922)

    “The key word in my plays is “perhaps.””
    —Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)