Windley Key Fossil Reef Visitor’s Center ~ Saturday, October 8

 Alison Fahrer Environmental Education Center

There is much to be appreciated in the preserved remains of the “ancient reef forest” (abandoned limestone quarry) at Windley Key State Park. The fossilized coral is the star of the show but the Visitor’s Center is a highly recommended prelude to the Quarry.

The Alison Fahrer Environmental Education Center provides an impressive introduction before entering the site.  It features exhibits about the area’s history, geology and biology. Windley Key Quarry is one of only two State Geological Sites in Florida and the only place on earth where one can walk through an in-situ coral reef. The quarried Key Largo limestone was even used to build the education center.  Sawn blocks of the polished coralline limestone, known as “keystone” (a decorative building material), construct the walls of the center.

The Formation of Key Largo Limestone Exhibit - donated by the USGS St. Petersburg Field Center

One of the main attractions of the museum is a “hands-on” model constructed of the quarry limestone. The model depicts the geologic evolution of the reefal Limestone that forms the upper and middle Florida Keys and is the counterpart to the modern offshore reef tract.

USGS Description of Limestone Exhibit (drawing courtesy of USGS)

Described in classic studies by Dr. John Edward Hoffmeister (University of Miami), the 125-ka reef extends for more than 175 km along the Florida shelf, is up to 55 m thick, and underlies the offshore living reefs. (USGS)

View of Quarry and Overseas Railroad exhibits in Education Center (image courtesy of floridastatespark.com)

Henry Flagler, who built the Overseas Railway that once connected the Florida Keys, first mined the Key Largo Limestone at Windley Key and adjacent quarries in the early 1900s. The rock was used for commercial construction purposes and decorative facing stone. Mining ceased in the early 1960s. It was near the Windley Key quarry that the Flagler Station was located. Use of the railroad ended in 1935 when a Category 5 storm swept the train from the tracks, killing more than 400 people.

(image courtesy of mykeyshistory.com)

The decorative limestone, known as "keystone" was used to construct the walls of the visitor's center (from myvirtualgeology.com)