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1943 Map of Sugarloaf Key

Name: 1943 Topographic Map of Sugarloaf Key
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1952
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1952

About this map

Sugarloaf Key and its surrounding archipelago dominate this wartime survey of the Lower Florida Keys. The settlement of Perky, marked by its distinctive Tower and Tanks, stands as a primary landmark along the transit corridor of U.S. Highway No 1, which cuts a straight path across the keys and over the waters of Upper Sugarloaf Sound. The landscape is a complex network of mangroves and shallow basins, including the Cudjoe Basin and Turkey Basin, where tidal movements define the shifting shoreline.

Evidence of local navigation and early coastal development appears at Pirates Cove, while the interior of the islands is divided by political markers like Precinct 8. Named features such as Happy Jack Key and Rattlesnake Lumps suggest a vernacular history tied to the sailors and fishermen who navigated the Cudjoe Channel and Johnston Key Channel long before modern dredging altered the coastal profile.