A
good selection of jewelry with coins, dolphins,
conch shell themes, tropical and Duck Key
themes, may be purchased at local jewelry stores
in Marathon
Paradise
Found - Residents of the island and visitors
to Hawk's Cay Resort quickly realize the
treasure they've found upon arriving on Duck
Key. One of the first recorded visitors to this
area, William Gerard de Brahm, in a guide to
mariners published in The Atlantic Pilot in 1772
described the waters off of Duck Key in words
fit for paradise.
"Approaching
Hawk Channel, the water gradually changes from
the stream's deep blue to a beautiful sea green
and at last into milk-white. The surroundings
under the blue coloured water are a fine white
marl with sponge, coral and
tortoise-grass."
Most
all would agree Duck Key is a treasure. A resort
brochure describes Duck Key as a place of
"swaying palms and landscaping reminiscent of
a grand Caribbean plantation. An atmosphere as
enticing as a soft breeze off the water. Once
you've experienced Florida's Caribbean Island,
you'll find that no other . . . spot will
do."
Is
there real buried Spanish treasure on Duck
Key? In 1903 the island came into the
possession of the Curry family. A letter
appearing in the Key West Citizen on
September 4, 1966, written by Kingman G. Curry
states:
"Editor,
The Citizen: Approximately 65 years ago my
father, the late Charles J. Curry, was the owner
of Duck Key, Florida, at which time my
grandmother, Mrs. Charlotte Gould, my uncle
Percy Gould, my mother and myself lived there.
It was with great difficulty that he constructed
a house at that place owing to the fact that
everything shipped there from Key West had to be
shipped in a sailing vessel . . .
"
Hearing
on the radio of a sunken treasure ship being
discovered just off Duck Key by skin divers, Mr.
Curry wrote further:
"All
of this brought to mind . . . my father and
uncle, it seemed to me, were forever digging on
the land for hidden treasures, which according
to a map they held, showed the location of this
treasure as buried by a pirate. Too bad skin
diving was not well known in those days as we
might have discovered the
treasure.
Well,
such is life."
