Indian Key
A tiny island in the Florida Keys that was briefly its own county seat, got massacred by Seminoles in 1840, and has been uninhabited ever since.
Indian Key was a thriving wrecking settlement in the 1830s — a town of 50 people with a hotel, warehouses, and a bowling alley, built on a 12-acre island. In August 1840, a party of Seminole warriors attacked at dawn. Most of the residents escaped by swimming to nearby Tea Table Key. The town was burned. No one ever rebuilt it.
Indian Key Historic State Park is accessible only by boat or kayak from Robbie's Marina in Islamorada (MM 77.5). State park rangers lead tours on certain days. The ruins of the original settlement are still visible — cisterns, foundation walls, the outline of streets. The botanical garden planted by Dr. Henry Perrine, who was killed in the attack, has gone wild.
The island is now a state park. The jungle has reclaimed most of the structures, but the bones of the town are still there. Standing in the middle of it, surrounded by water on all sides, you can feel the specific loneliness of a place that was once full of people and is now completely empty.