Dismal Key

Dismal Key is a small island, part of the Ten Thousand Islands archipelago in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.

It lacks a permanent source of fresh water, which is available only by being imported, collected from rainfall, or extracted from the local cacti. In pre-Columbian times it was inhabited by members of the Calusa nation, highly skilled as fishers, artisans and traders. A huge mound of oyster shells, 15 feet high, remains as a monument to the Calusa. In recent times, Dismal Key has no permanent human habitation - only the occasional hermits, poachers, smugglers and tourists.

Dismal Key is the locale for the second half of the novel Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen.

References

• A map from the Florida HomeTownLocator
• Hermits from the Mangrove Country of the Everglades (about Eardley Foster Atkinson and Al Seely)

See also

• Mound Key
• Key Largo
• Key West

Coordinates: 25°53′N 81°33′W / 25.883°N 81.55°W / 25.883; -81.55