The Florida Keys: 200 Years of Paradise 

Heard that my friend. I was born a Conch, now it breaks my heart everytime I go back. The trash, the shitty people, expensive prices. Hell I used to live on a sailboat and they are even trying to get rid of live aboards down there. I remember the days as a kid we would pay in the middle of US 1, now your lucky if you can cross it on foot! No to mention all the buddies I've lost due to drunk drivers. It's sad af now

My family has been in this state for over 400 years and lasted because of what Florida offered and it's all getting lost !!!!

@@hohsmith4723 My great grandfathers cousin left Cuba to Key West in the 1880's as a cigar factory worker and never left so I have family who are Conch Native. My parents owned a home in Big Pine back in the 70's until 2004, I remember when the waters where blue not aqua as they are today, pollution has done a lot of damage, and then having all these realtors pushing to create more construction and pollution doesn't help. Thanks to the snow birds and their arrogant, rude, snobby, annoying, with a sort of dictatorial attitude.

@@mannyrodriguez5453 I wish I could have been alive back then to see how beautiful it really was before it got so crowded. I was born in KW in 89 and lived in Taviner with my parents untill I was 10 we moved away after hurricane Andrew (they got tired of the hurricanes) I ended up moving back down to Islamorada to be a fisherman in my 20's, but right away I could tell it was not like it used to be. I used to sit at the Lorelei and listen to all the old captains talk about the "good old days"! It sure is a paradise lost now... Anyway glad your grandfather's cousin got to experience the true Keys! One of my best friends came from Cuba during the political prisoner release during the missile crisis. His dad had been locked up for speaking out against Castro. I was with them when the world found out Castro died, my guy was in tears he was so happy. Then we had a hell of a party lol. I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but your family member was very fortunate to make it over. I've come across a hand full of Cuban rafts (occupied and completely empty) and the level of desperation in their eyes in the occupied ones is hard to forget. And wondering what happened to the crew of an empty raft is just as concerning. Hope you have a great day bro!

@@hohsmith4723 Do you still live in the keys. I had a friend who lived on Burgandy Drive in Tavernier key, I remember, when the state ended the canal dredging, he was really happy as well as the rest of the residents. When I was in high school back in 1979, my math teacher, who I got along with well, would always talk about fishing and how the affect of pollution had affected the waters, he would tell me how abundant and how larger the fish were from shore when he was a kid and how he and his dad would fish the Bahamas and even the waters were not the same.

Cool.

Love..

I've visited the Keys and never felt so much comfort. Lots of love 💞 You're very fortunate.

@@CatJuarez So kind - thank you!

🌴❣️I spent only a partial day and evening (a cruise stopover) wandering along (Duvall St.?) where I saw Truman's Southern White House, Hemingway's Home, the home where Robert Frost lived, banyan trees, gorgeous pet iguanas, then on to check out Sloppy Joe's and, of course, to enjoy a Margherita in Margheritaville. That was just the tip of the iceberg, I know, so a return trip is on my bucket list. Next time I will drive down along that famous highway through the Keys! Wish all these fascinating pictures were in a photo album so we could spend more time studying certain ones!! I love reading everyone's comment's about their own personal connection to the Keys! A fantastic documentary.🌴🌴🌴🌅

I'm a 5th. Generation Conch and you are 100% correct. They have ruined our island now. It's heart breaking to try and drive around now covered in multi million dollar resort now surround the island blocking out the local sea breeze between that and all the concreate and pavement it just traps the heat in. Thank You for you kind comment the new people don't respect it and removed many of our local fruit trees because "They are Messy" so sad.

Definitely more diverse now. Once I put aside my middle aged bias, I began to see the huge influx of styles and culture that they brought to a town that had unfortunately become a tourist trap. Loved it in the 70’s and 80’s. Disgusted by what it had become in the 90’s. They turned it around. Now I can get drunk as F at Sloppy’s or Monkeys, or Hogs and laugh at their silly ass outfits and behavior. And guess what? They are laughing right there back at me over my sandals and old white guy clothes. The hard pill I had to swallow was that the party is where you make it. But we all laugh at the fat fucks that unload when the cruise ships dock.

Meaning what?

Meaning there is too much traffic and the keys between bridges use to be able to camp to fish.

Hope you can make it back soon! 👍🏼👍🏼

Me too, but 70's memories. Revisit on my own now since a widow. Met my husband at the Seven Mile Grill.

@@christinemckinney4093 I'm very sorry for your loss.

The keys are amazing ❤

Those same captains have over fished the shit out of the place

​@@KeyLargoDude666

This is the comment I was scrolling for. I wondered as a documentarian if actual residents saw the diversity I do in the finished production. thanks for sharing your feelings!

Good to know! Women getting credit! Who knew?!?!🤔🙏🏻❤️

Love your comment, QC, but just to be safe make sure you get that sore on your head checked out. I'm a gardener-landscaper, I had a sore on my forehead that wouldn't heal--it was skin cancer. Caught it early, knock on wood, & no issues since. Take care, friend!!!

Why take a bus? You don't have a car to drive any where?

​@@barrywainwright3391 His name is Quaalude Charlie; I wouldn't recommend him driving.

@@barrywainwright3391. Well obviously not if he walked from Ft. Lauderdale to Homestead!!!

Do apply a bit of patience to allow me the latitude to express my perception of the value of facts. _________________________________ A truly worth share you have provided, as we can only "believe" in most subject descriptions of History, for the influence of the "Mainstream Academics" and their "19th Century Theory based Paradigm and Linear Timeline", the Theory actually applied as a Fact Foundation, the Paradigm used as a "Tool of Measure", all 9f which did not fit or support this Paradigm, be that Theory, Artifacts, even Peer Reviewed Science, were and are ignored, and the History Books reflect their Paradigm, 'a Moden Myth" that is accepted as Academic Facts. (The "Standards of Science and Research" prohibits using a Theory as a Fact.) Thus we have arrived at a time, where even the Current Events are encrusted with an application of creative writing to suit the Commentary for the purpose, agenda, the Power and Profits of the Owner of the 24hr Cable News, one of whom lightly referenced his Fox News as "We are an Opinion News Media", (reference: Biography Documentary of Rupert Murdoch). However, lest we forget, the "Universal Laws" are Absolute, and like the tides of the water you describe, the "Law of Rhythm" the ebb and flow of energies: *We are position in time, on the beach to witness the "Tides of Truths" flow in and have vast opportunities to apply the *"Thought + Feelings, to establish the Frequency", that can benefit our desires with the most prevalent of the "Universal Laws", the "Law of Attraction", which when understood offers "Conscious Creating".* A subject that will come to be realized as the most important value of everyone's Learning. A subject that's noticable in it's absence in Curriculum Education and in the Western Roman based Christian Religion. Particularly since it clearly was the foundation of the Teachings of Yeshua/Jesus, and found in sparse parts in the New Testament, yet in far more identifiable content in the "Gospel of Thomas", one that was intentionally withheld, though it met their referenced "standards for qualification". How the subject of greater Facts reflect vast explorations and potentials for such worthy discoveries. Beth a Sociologist/Behavioralist and Historian

Just 30 years?

I think it’s been getting better since they got rid of septic tanks, still a lot of work to do! I love ❤ the keys

I was stationed at nas Boca chica over 40 years ago and speared fish , snorkeled and dove..The water was pretty much the same color until you went beyond the reefs..Then it was blue water..

Amazing 🤩

We are still here .

@@boondockingamerica Wow you live down the street from Pres. Trump?

@chadsimmons6347 no we are about 129 miles from the orange man.

@ROCKET MAN I was born a Bahamian, not a victim of colonialism.

@ROCKET MAN I'm sorry you have a challenge with reading. I never said I lived in the "keys". I am a Bahamian not an American.

Dear bradcolby3624, Greetings from San Francisco I am a native and feel like a sea gal....I just wanted to say your family history is so romantic, I wish they would make a movie about your great grandparents how they met...got marry etc..my parents came to San Francisco in 1955 life and things were so simple here.....my mother side of the family settled in Florida.....I did get to drive down all the way to Key West it was beautiful and enchanting ....I have been a old soul and would have love to have been there in 1912 and on......I dated a navy person when he was station a while at Treasure Island,,,thou the San Francisco Coast guard is still Station there......the Keys and archipelago that make this region are the most magical place in the world....... The Estrada's mom and son Jonathan ......🌁🌺🌊🌉📻👍

Freaks are in

why in this 60 min PBS program are there 3-4 minutes devoted to gays and lesbians? i dont get it. Thats 3% of the program. Is the gay movement really 3% of the floriday keys 200 year history?!?! What history got left out in leiu of the gay story? kinda sad to me.

@samhallowsdc the gay community (I don't know about the rest of the letters), is a fairly significant part of the Key West community. I'm straight, and they don't bother me a bit. They are part of Key Weird as much as anyone else.

I was there in 1970 till 1971. Landed by small yacht, got a job, a house on stilts, met my husband, got married, traveled for 15 years, revisited the Keys every 5 years or so. Now a widow, settled on the Gulf Coast. Music of the 70' always takes me back. Good times.

Paradise would be pristine and undeveloped. When you call it paradise you kiss it good-bye!

This is so wrong and 😢

Basically there are no real beaches left in the Florida Keys. We searched for them. But the only reasonable one is in Key Largo at the John Pennekamp Corral Reef State Park at a length of about 100 yards the rest are mini beaches were you can wade knee deep. The developers must have taken over all the nice beaches shown in this movie.

AirBBs and VRBOs are destroying communities and neighborhoods all over the world. The developers and realtors are simply blood sucking greedy people. They don’t care about neighborhoods and communities.

I was there approximately 50 years ago with my mother and sister and a friend of ours. It had become a Haven for gays and Cubans. (Boat people.). We'd liked the key lime pie and conch dishes.

@@hesseldijkstra5327 There never was beaches; we live on rocks of coral which is also why we have no “waves” either. Any beaches we have are man made ones.

A class on how to use capitalism in sentences should also be included.

@@BrittMFH I Use Capital Letters To Accentuate My Point

sucks now.I call it Condo West !!!

@@jimshoe402 Lol, so symbolic of expansion . . . domestically. Now how can interest be created to immigrate northwest - Minot, North Dakota . . . Lol. 😎 🇺🇲 🤗

Growing up in south Florida- the keys were always a special place for us. Once I graduated from HS we moved to Big Pine. We were fortunate to be able to be caretakers of Camp Wesumpkee ( Girl Scout camp) for a year. I loved living in the keys. Life takes us in directions we don’t always understand. But, I am coming back.

I remember the mosquito trucks, the palms, the water, the scent of the ocean, and huge sand crabs my cousins used to scare us. It was wonderful. It is gone now. I am 74 and sad to know that most will never see what we did or felt the ambiance of the islands.

A1A ?

There's a TON of history missing here

It's PBS and Key West focused....this means the wealthy white liberals who are the primary consumers of publicly financed media as well as the resident of the Key West need to feed their own narcissism by focusing in on the victimhoom aspect of the history. This is key to feed their own egos as well as push the racial and gender conflict theories which help them divide and gain power.

ok four minuts in, the pace becomes realistic! thankyou