RELIGION
IN THE 
UPPER KEYS

By Jerry Wilkinson
    The desire or need for some kind of religious worship appears to have existed from the beginning of the human race. The treks of the Spanish, French and English to the New World were strongly influenced by religion, but there appears to have not been any serious missionary efforts in the Florida Keys. Even Key West did not appear to have its first official church ceremony (Episcopal) until Christmas, 1832. This was four years after it was incorporated on January 8, 1828. 
    To evaluate Florida's religious history is a bit presumptuous as most of its history is of the Native American with no written language. Should one attempt to do so anyway, the majority of it population can do so relative to the past 50 years and generally a much smaller span of time. The non-Floridian probably from the media thinks of Florida as a worldly society bordering on hedonism where pleasure or happiness is the driving motivation.
     However, in spite of the sunny climate, abundant water activities and comparatively scanty attire, religion has been a part of its written history since Ponce de Leon's arrival in 1513. All early pseudo conquistadors sailed and marched headlong into religious practices of Florida's Native Americans. In total population the permanent Native Americans outnumbered the white man well into early history.
     Since early Florida history is written by the white man, it is largely Catholic. Early on in the 1560s the French Huguenots threatened a foothold at the Jacksonville area, but the Spanish ended that effort.
     The English American Anglicans attempted another foothold from 1763 to 1783; however in actually only in small numbers and the Catholics remained dominate. With the 1800s newcomers from neighboring states of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, the evangelical and free-church groups soon outnumbered the Catholics. There was also the infix of Caribbean peoples mixed into the mixing pot.
     The 1830 and 1840 census summarizes Florida's early population:
1830  -  white  19,400    -    slave  16,100
1840  -  white  29,400    -    slave  26,100.
Another perspective is from a census for the Florida Constitutional Convention in 1838:
                           White     Slave     Free-Black      Total
Florida                    452          93          73             618
Monroe County     25,132    21,132        958         48,223.
    Key West was, of course, the first permanent white settlement in the Keys and Indian Key was the second. I could find no record of an organized church movement on Indian Key, so I will proceed with Key West. This is not to say that people did not gather in their homes to hold some kind of service -as they did later in the Upper Keys- until some permanent arrangement could be made. Enough knowledge of Bahamian tradition would indicate that some form of worship took place without a formal physical structure, as the church was in their hearts and not the edifice. 
    A petition was made to the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York in 1831 for a permanent clergyman to be assigned to Key West. The Reverend Sanson Brunot arrived on December 23, 1832 -in time to conduct Christmas services. A coral-rock church building was completed for services in 1839 on a site donated by the widow of Mr. Fleeming (spelled Fleming today). 
    In 1848, another frame building was built, with four pews in the rear reserved for black members. Bahamian Blacks held services from house to house. In 1875, they decided they wanted a place of their own with the name "St. Peters." The building was started in 1879. All costs were borne by the members. Black priest J. L. Kerr served for 15 years. 
    By 1836, many of the new Key West settlers were Wesleyan Methodists from the Bahamas. They too worshipped from place to place and were under the leadership of Samuel Kemp. Using land donated by him, a small place of worship was constructed on Eaton Street near William Street. Because of the Bahamian influx into Key West, four Methodist church buildings were there by 1845. In 1868 the Methodists who wished instrumental music constructed the Sparks Chapel, but instrumental music was delayed until 1887 due to a deed restriction. In 1877, plans were adopted for a large coral rock building during the term of Rev. John C. Ley. 
    The Baptists began meetings in Key West in 1842, but the absence of other Baptist churches in Florida prevented their affiliation with others. They, too, worshipped wherever they could find a place. Apparently, they (and others) used the courthouse as a place of worship. At one time, they even used the Episcopal and other church buildings. 
    A permanent Baptist meeting place was obtained by 1849 and destroyed by fire in 1866. With the leadership of John White, it was replaced shortly thereafter where it remains today. 
    Considering the early Spanish influence, a Catholic church would normally be expected at the onset. This does not seem to be the case. The earliest records seem to be in the 1840s, when the diocese of Savannah, Georgia. The Bishop would send priests once or twice a year to administer the sacraments. 
    Key West's first Catholic church was established in 1852 with Father J. N. Brozard appointed as the resident priest. The building was destroyed by fire in 1901. A new church made of concrete was dedicated in 1905. 
     In the first decade of 1900, Key West had a population of about 17,000 and many other churches appeared there. The First Congregational Church met wherever they could find space, which included a sail loft, until a permanent building could be built in 1903. In 1907, the Salvation Army built a tabernacle on Margaret Street. The Christian Scientist, followers of Mary Baker Eddy, also met in homes until they constructed a permanent building in 1911. The Jewish congregation, B'nai Zion, bought an existing building in 1907 and converted it into a synagogue. A new synagogue was built in 1969. 
    Moving now to the Upper Keys, reportedly there were circuit riding ministers who traveled the Keys by boat/ship giving services wherever they were a group.  Travel in the Keys was by ship or on foot as there were a few foot paths between farms, but only then if they were close together. As the size and number of pineapple farms increased, tram roads began to be made between the fields and docks.
     The 1860 census shows a total 27 men, women and children in the Upper Keys - zero on Key Largo, Plantation and Windley Keys. After the Indian War crisis was over, the 1870 census indicated 134 inhabitants in the entire Upper Keys. Indian Key had 46, Matecumbe 14, Umbrella 4, Plantation 9 and Key Largo 61. The only minister listed was Robert J. McCook, a Methodist Minister on Indian Key, yet there is no mention of a congregation there. The 1885 census indicated 429 people living on all Keys outside of Key West. Most of the 1890 census was burned and there is no census data for Monroe County. The 1900 census counted 450 living in the Upper Keys and it is about to grow faster as the railroad became active.
     The first account that is passed on time and time again is at a Methodist Episcopal South, Tampa District Conference held in Arcadia, Florida in 1871, the Reverend R. N. Evans of the Key Largo circuit reported that, "We have two churches, titles good and recorded. These churches are sound, painted and in very good shape. No encumbrances. Two new churches are needed. No parsonage."  This and the Methodist circuit account come from an article published in the Tequesta, 1970, number XXX, pages 64 through 68 by Reverend Jean U. Guerry.
     I cannot substantiate any church structures as early as 1871, nor can I repudiate it, but a later  photo will show a substantial church in 1907. A good estimate of the two mentioned above would be at Newport and a southern Key Largo community later to be known as Johnson's Point, later known as Planter and today known as Tavernier.
     The second account is that in 1881 two Methodist ministers - Somelian and Giddens - sailed from Key West to provide spiritual services in the Upper Keys. The United Methodist Church Florida Conference can provide no information of this account stating that Somelian was appointed to the Cuba Mission at Key West and could not find the name Giddens. The book 'Key West, The Old and the New' by Browne on page 42 does mention in 1886 a Rev. John A. Giddens in Key West on account of ill health. It is entirely possible that Somelian and Giddens could have provided religious service individually or collectively to the Upper Keys citizens.
    The third account passed on is that in 1887, a Rev. J.M. Sweat was appointed to the Key Largo circuit with an established schedule to provide  a weeks service rotating first to Basin Hills on north Key Largo,  then moving southward to Newport, then to Planter and finally to Matecumbe.
    Little is known of the Basin Hills community and nothing of a meeting place. North Key Largo communities of the early 1870 settlers were known as Aiken, Whalton, Red Bird City, and Basin Hills - now part of John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park located along County Road 905 in route to Ocean Reef. This area was homesteaded and numerous vintage concrete/tabby water cisterns remain in the area; therefore, the area was inhabited at one time.
     As to a community of Newport, in 1886 Commodore Munroe of Coconut Grove wrote that he sailed the Egret to Newport on Key Largo and chartered the Newport to go to Key West to meet a steamer. Again, vintage water cisterns and an old beehive-shaped oven existed in the  Newport area, now known as Hibiscus Park, MM 101.4. Concrete front stairs of a later meeting  place remain, but it is not thought to be dated back to the 1800s.
      The is no doubt that Planter existed, oceanfront from MM 92.5. In 1890, Monroe County created a school named "Johnson's Point" assumed to have been named after the owner of the 143 acre homestead of Samuel Johnson patented in 1882. A post office was approved in December 1891 with Samuel's son, John Wesley Johnson, as postmaster.  The following year the name of the school was changed to 'Planter.'
     I find no documentation of the first dedicated meeting place and I am searching for specific documentation of Johnson's Point/Planter church being dedicated as the Barnett Chapel - we know it eventually was however.
     When Planter more or less folded as a community in the early 1900s, the Barnett Chapel was physically moved to Tavernier on the ocean along with the Rodney Albury's house. Note the photo to the right of the 1907 Planter church.
     Now we move further southward to Upper Matecumbe Key. In 1894, with the influence of Richard Pinder, a one-room wooden Methodist church was built on the beach some where on eastern Upper Matecumbe Key - see the photo at the top of this page. Richard's son, Preston, directed the construction and remained active in the church for fifty plus years. 
    This church building was constructed on the upper end of Matecumbe to serve the Russell and Pinder pioneer families. See photo above. Worshipers from Umbrella (Windley) Key most likely would have attended there.  Those from Long Island (Plantation Key) could have went there or up to Planter. 
    This Upper Matecumbe wooden building was moved farther south in about 1897 to accommodate the Parker family who had moved to the southern part of Upper Matecumbe circa 1894. The church was floated between two sailboats likened to the Ark of the Covenant in Biblical times. It was unloaded and moved to rest on the shore near the present-day Cheeca Lodge. Later, William Matheson donated the property for the school, church and cemetery to be next to each other. 
     Etta Dolores Pinder was the first to be buried in the new cemetery. The older cemetery farther north is known as the Russell cemetery. The Russells were the first homesteaders on Upper Matecumbe. "Uncle Johnny," the Reverend John Watkins of Key West, was the first pastor. They celebrated their centennial on April 23, 1994 at their present location in Islamorada. 
    The coming of the railroad was a major historical/sociological turning point for the Keys. Ministers could travel more easily by train on Sundays and lay persons would fill in during their absence. The next turning point will be the 1950s.
    While covering the railroad construction, the Florida Times-Union reported on August 20, 1908: "The Rev. Edward F. Ley, presiding elder of the East Coast district of the Methodist Church, is on the Florida Keys holding quarterly meetings in connection with the Key Largo charge, Rev. J. D. Frierson, the pastor. Excellent and gratifying reports are made along church lines and the property of the people socially and financially. It is hoped that the good people will soon assist the church in the erection of a new church building on Key Largo and also on Matecumbe." 
    The 1906 hurricane played havoc with the Basin Hills, Newport and Planter churches on Key Largo. Evidently Basin Hills faded after the 1906 hurricane as a May 1908 Key West Citizen article states that the Rev. J.D. Frierson was appointed to the Keys and held services on the first and second Sundays at Newport in Key Largo, at Planter (now Tavernier) every third Sunday and Matecumbe (now Islamorada) every fourth Sunday. The 1909 and 1910 hurricanes caused further damage but the opening of daily train service in early 1908 had a significant social influence on Upper Keys citizens. Residents along the Planter ocean front moved inland closer to the railroad which could and did make changes such as daily mail service along with ice and any other high use staple. A railroad depot was built followed by a post office and the the need for sail boat services declined.
       The railroad depot was built at Rock Harbor (about MM 97) and not at Newport (about MM 101.4). Again a post office soon opened and later a coral rock school building which served as a church on Sundays. The principal communities on Key Largo became named Tavernier, Rock Harbor and Key Largo.
      These Basin Hills and Newport members subsequently met wherever they could until they merged with the Rock Harbor Methodists meeting in the Rock Harbor school building. The Flagler railroad was operating in the Upper Keys and Florida City provided a weekly minister at Rock Harbor. The Reverend Getman was one of the better known. The stone church in Rock Harbor was named in his honor and later the actual building. The building was the former two-room rock constructed school built on land donated by Beauregard Albury. After the Rock Harbor school consolidated with Tavernier in the 1937 WPA built hurricane/refuge school (today the Health Department building), the Rock Harbor school building became the church. The building is now the stone portion of the Moose Lodge at about MM 98.5. Tavernier continued with the aforementioned Barnett's chapel name.
    Reynolds Cothron, who had come to the Keys to work for the railroad and his son, Alonzo, met Florence, the daughter of Benjamin Lee Pinder. They wanted to be married on Upper Matecumbe Key. The Reverend Munro was summoned from Key West and the marriage was on June 9, 1926. This was reportedly the first wedding ever performed at the little church on the beach. The marriage of Edwin Dennis and Leola Pinder was the second, followed by Berlin Felton and Mary Eloise Carey. 
     The changes that the  railroad brought translated into more people. The Keys were expanding -or shrinking if one thinks in another manner. The Methodist membership grew to over 100 Methodists, but the bell was about to sound for the last time on the beach of Matecumbe. 
    The Matecumbe Charge (Church) Reverend and Mrs. Carlson, who had only been assigned to Matecumbe for a few months, perished in the 1935 hurricane. The hurricane destroyed the Matecumbe and Tavernier Methodist church buildings. 
    Upper Matecumbe Key was as close to being completely destroyed by the 1935 hurricane as any place could be; however, they continued their faith. The church bell was found and suspended in a tree to announce the worship service. The parsonage was repairable and for a short time served as a small meeting place. Time, faith and a lot of hard work heals all wounds. Again under the leadership of Preston Pinder, a wooden structure just north of the Hurricane Memorial at mile marker 81.5 was soon ready for worship. 
    The Highway Gospel Hall, a Brethern Church, was built by Copeland Johnson shortly before the 1935 Hurricane.  It was a small, but nice one room wooden building south of today's Green Turtle Inn. It faced the old highway on the west side and was just building up its membership when the hurricane struck. The building and Johnson perished. 
     On the island of Key Largo, the Rock Harbor school building where the church met on Sundays was not significantly damaged in 1935 and services continued without interruption.
     The 1935 Hurricane also completely destroyed Barnett's chapel at Tavernier. The Tavernier Methodists quickly built with donations and scrap lumber a meeting house next door to the modern day Masonic Lodge. In the interim, a McKenzie building across from the Tavernier Hotel was used under the direction of Reverend Yancy. This wooden church was called The Tavernier Methodist Church and was used for 23 years. In 1956, the Reverend Scott headed the ground breaking for the new Burton Memorial Methodist Church farther north. The name was in honor of the Joseph Burton family who donated the land.
     After the Burton Memorial Church was completed, the Tavernier Masonic Lodge #336 purchased the old wooden structure in 1959 and used it until it constructed the present masonry constructed lodge building. To make room for the new lodge, the 1936 wooden structure was put up for sale. The community of Tavernier (Old Tavernier Town Association) rallied together to purchase and move the building. It was first moved about 20 feet to allow construction to begin. In 1982, it was lifted off its foundation and moved by truck and trailer for temporary storage just north of Doug and Clara's Grocery awaiting approval of its final resting spot. Later it was moved and reassembled at its present location on U.S. 1 at about MM 91.7 (Schwartz Realty). 
    The Rock Harbor church was not significantly damaged in 1935 and continued in the old coral rock school building. 
    The only Upper Keys churches listed in the 1938 Redland District News citizens directory were the Matecumbe, Tavernier and Rock Harbor Methodist churches.  The Reverent Floyd Bowery was listed as pastor of all three churches. 
    The Methodist church continued to dominate religion in the Upper Keys until the 1950s. The Middle Keys started the Marathon Community Church in 1945. Land was donated by Harold Clark and a permanent building established in December, 1949.
     The Catholic community began in the Upper Keys as a mission of the Homestead Sacred Heart Church. Msgr. John O'Dowd celebrated the first Upper Keys mass in the present Islamorada library on December 25, 1952. 
      St. Augustine's Archbishop Hurley selected a 15-acre site at mile marker 89.5 for the San Pedro Parish in the Keys. The architect was Thomas Maddens Jr. and the builder William Stalcup. Bins at the main entrance are built from ballast stone from the wreck of the San Pedro with solid mahogany of sculptured panels by Richard Carrol. The communion bell was once used in a small Mexican Chapel and the tower bell was cast in 1917. Many of the lighting fixtures are copies of the famous Majano lanterns of Rome.  According to my research it was dedicated in February 1955 as the Mission de San Pedro Roman Catholic Church recalling that the first churches in Florida were erected by Spanish Settlers. Presumably, Archbishop Joseph Hurley chose St. Peter as the mission's patron after the then recent discovery of the 1733 sunken Spanish ship San Pedro but most likely it honors St. Peter. The mission was designated a parish in 1959 with Father Luis Altonaga as the first local pastor. 
    In the fall of 1953, a group of Lutheran families met in Tavernier in the home of Ben and Cris Bean. Later, in 1953, with Anthony Albury as chairman, they met with the Rev. Shepherd of the Homestead United Lutheran Church.  Progress was slow, but with faith and determination they met in various locations. Services were held from 1956 to 1961 in the house built by Tavernier's first postmaster, Merlin Albury. Eventually, a permanent location was procured for the present Immanuel Lutheran Church on Plantation Key. It was dedicated on April 13, 1969. 
    On January 4, 1954, the First Baptist Church of Islamorada was in its infancy when the Reverend John Whitt of Homestead began holding services in the present Islamorada library building. This was largely due to the efforts of Doris Albury and Elnora Woods who had organized a Sunday School in 1953. 
    The Reverend Whitt resigned and Dr. Lacy took over. The Baptist Keys Mission was underway officially in April, 1954. With assistance from Homestead, Miami and the Florida Baptist Convention, a Key Largo/Islamorada church was organized.
     The Key Largo Baptists began meeting in the newly opened Key Largo Civic Club in 1955. Dr. Lacy became the pastor in August 1955. Land for a building was purchased in 1957 and the building completed in 1958. A second building was completed in 1959, a parsonage in 1960 and the present sanctuary in 1969.
    Additional help came when, in 1958, the Matecumbe Methodist Church constructed a new church building and donated the previous wooden building (complete with pews) to the Baptists. The Baptist Church of Homestead provided funds for foundations and moving. On May 11, 1958, they held their first services as the Islamorada Baptist Mission. 
    Two years later, Hurricane Donna struck with some damage to most church buildings. For a few weeks services were held outdoors, in church annexes and some groups simply had to temporarily postpone meetings to recover. 
    The Coral Isles Church was established in September, 1962 under the auspices of the United Church of Christ. Rev. William North became its pastor in 1963 and a sanctuary was built on Plantation Key in 1966. 
    The early, black Bahamian Orthodox Church in Newport, where Father Joe Anderson was pastor, burned about 1958 - the whites were meeting at Tavernier by this time. His father was also a Bahamian Orthodox minister, therefore little doubt there was an early Orthodox Bahamian church in Newport. We are not certain when it was built, but Edna (Davis) DeVoe recalls attending the son's church in 1942. This was a wooden building on the oceanside of the old highway in the area of the Monroe County housing authority hUD project at mile marker 101.4. Father Anderson also had a tin roofed packing house in which he permitted various religious groups to use. 
    With the desegregation of Coral Shores School in the 1960s, the Burlington School for blacks was closed and the building subsequently used by the African Methodist Episcopalian Church. Meanwhile, the Church of Christ was meeting in various homes and the building that housed the Lions Club until Leroy Shade and Raymond Clark built the existing building at mile marker 101.3. 
    The Island Community Church began as a living room bible study group in the home of Floyd Russell in the fall of 1968. Under the leadership of Bruce Porter the study group grew, incorporated and rented a small building across the highway from the present location. For special events they rented the Cinemorada Theater. Working together, the old movie theater was turned into the Island Community Church’s home. Classrooms were added and the Island Christian School was also born.
    St. James of the Fisherman began in 1959 as a group of Episcopalians meeting in the WPA built hurricane refuge/school, now the concrete portion of the Islamorada Library.
    The parish moved to its present location in 1970 using a pre-fab structure distinguished by a fishnet draping, driftwood cross and red doors. An office building was added in 1983 and the Children’s Center and Pre-School were established the following year. A parish hall with bell and tower were added in 1994.
    The Rev. Howarth Lewis, AIA, designed the new building replacing the original church and office building in 2001.
     In general, it is believed that a majority of burials were outside of the Upper Keys, or their grave sites have been destroyed.  Other than the cremation sites for the 1935 hurricane, the Pinder and Russell cemeteries on Upper Matecumbe Key are all that remain. There are a few single headstones scattered about on other Keys. 
    There are other fine groups, large and small, operating in the Upper Keys. Just because they are not listed does not take away from their importance. The Society maintains a file system and solicits information of facets of local life. 
     I encourage each organization to maintain a history of its group. Every group needs a historian just as it does a secretary and treasurer. The minutes are not usually sufficient for a comprehensive history. If not, fifty years from now, someone like me will research a paper and it will be as incomplete as this one or based on oral history. 
   Time moves on -and relatively fast! 

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