Tour Windley Key State Park

Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park is a hidden gem of Islamorada. Escaping into the park and off the busy Overseas Highway gives guests a unique experience to visit an ancient reef, learn about local history and explore a hardwood hammock forest.

Park visitors can join a ranger for a guided tour of the park (seasonally) or use a trail guide to explore the park at their own leisure. Using the trail guide, visitors have the opportunity of exploring five nature trails. All trails are marked with numbered signs that correspond to descriptions in the guide.

To focus on the history of the park, be sure to visit the Windley Quarry to see the channeling machine, slabbing machine and the gin pole motor. These tools were used to cut huge slabs of limestone out of the quarry to be cut and polished into decorative building facades.

Following the Yellow Flagler Quarry trail or the Red Quarry Walls Walk trail, guests will learn about the geology of the Keys and how to find and identify the different corals found in the quarry walls. Guests can also look for smooth holes, evidence of an ancient mussel that lived on the reef long ago.

The trail guide also offers interesting tidbits of information on the flora of the park for those with an interest in local plants. Choose the 0.5-mile Green Hammock Trail for the longest hike. This trail takes you through the hardwood hammock, meanders through several transitional habitats and into the Russel Quarry, the oldest quarried area at the park.

Whatever your interests, guests at Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park are sure to have an enjoyable day.

Windley Key’s trails and quarries are also accessible with the addition of the powered mobility chair by Action Trackchair.  This chair is available for guests free of cost with park entry.

Contact the Windley Key Education Center at 305-664-2540 for additional information.