Painter Harry J. Sonntag left New York in the 1940s to get away from other artists.
In 1992, collectibles dealer Chuck Faulkner made an unusual discovery in a bag that was discarded from a storage unit in Kissimmee. It was filled with close to 170 paintings by Harry J. Sonntag, who was also known as the “Hermit Artist of Key Largo.”
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:00 AM EDT
Archaeologist Duncan Mathewson holds the gold chalice that Mike DeMar of Blue Water Ventures just found at the Santa Margarita. They estimate its value at more than $1 million.
Keys archaeologist Duncan Mathewson wasn’t surprised when he heard an idea to attach metal detectors to dolphins in the hopes they would uncover treasure buried beneath the Caribbean sand.
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:00 AM EDT
Pete Cavanah ÒretiredÓ to Marathon in 1950.
Marathon’s Pete Cavanah has seen a lot of technology come and go during his 87 years, first in Chicago during the heyday of radio, and later in the Keys as the new medium of television began to gain in popularity.
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:00 AM EDT
Irving Eyster has spent more than 60 years studying the history and archaeology of the Florida Keys.
Irving Eyster’s interest in archaeology started when he was growing up in Indiana. He and his grandfather would go looking for old mill remains or houses that had long been abandoned.
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:00 AM EDT
Aerial view of the airstrip under construction. The borrow pit in the upper left is now Dodge Lake. Two ribbons of road are visible in the lower part of the picture. The one closest to the airstrip is the first highway, completed in 1928. The lower road is the abandoned right-of-way for the old train track from the Key West Extension. The photo is dated 3/18/1943, and is from the Islamorada Public Library.
At the beginning of World War II the U.S. military saw a need for a practice landing strip for pilots-in-training. The Civil Aeronautics Association, a government agency, determined that a parcel of land then owned by two Key West men, Norberg Thompson and Maitland Adams would be suitable.
Posted - Sunday, June 29, 2008 02:04 PM EDT
Alan Schmitt came to the Keys for the same reason most people do — the warmth. There’s just one small difference.
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:00 AM EDT
There was a time in the Keys when the tarpon were so plentiful that you could throw a hook off a dock and catch all you wanted. Mackerel teemed in Keys waters and commercial fishing boats would catch so many that they would nearly sink under the weight of their catch. Shrimp boats came to the docks in Marathon laden with Key West pinks.
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:00 AM EDT
"The main thing I remember is that back in the early ‘50s, everybody knew everybody.”
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:00 AM EDT
Key West City Commissioner Merili McCoy has a vivid recollection of what her city was like 50 years ago. And she doesn’t hesitate to use it when the commission has to grapple with tough issues of growth and buildout.
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:00 AM EDT
I first came to Marathon with the Sunshine Fins Skin Diving Club from St. Petersburg. The year was about 1962.
Posted - Sunday, July 13, 2008 03:02 AM EDT
