Talk:Ballast Key

What does this mean? Very confusing.
Legal Description 16 68 23 EE68316-01 BALLAST KEY LOT 1 UNSURVEYED OR552-850 OR552-852 OR665-376/377 OR1742-1461/70Q/C

Section, Township, Range 16 - 68 - 23

Millage Group 5000

PC Code 01 - SINGLE FAMILY

Building Details

Number of Buildings: 2 Total

Living Area: 3260 sq ft

Land Details:

Land Use Code/Land Area

010W - RES WATERFRONT/5 Acres

000X - ENVIRONMENTALLY SENS/19 Acres

--grejlen - talk 05:36, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
 * where does all this come from?--Ratzer 13:12, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Why isn't Sand Key considered the southernmost point of land in Florida?
I was out boating this past weekend, and the depth chart maps clearly show Sand Key is much farther south than Ballast Key, which claims to be the southernmost point in Florida in this article. Is it because the land of Sand Key has disappeared a few times from hurricanes? There's land there now, so shouldn't the Southernmost point in Florida designation go to Sand Key? Here's a link that clearly shows land is there Sand Key reef aerial.

I see how the article Extreme points of the United States says that several sand bars are at least 7 km farther south and exposed at low tide, but this wasn't low tide it was midway between low & high and the sand bar was clearly exposed. If it is covered at high tide does that exclude it from being considered land? What if it continues to build up and is exposed even at high tide? I'm not sure any source exists for this since it seems to change its status with every passing storm. It seems that if there is land there most of the time then it should be considered land.

Another point - the depth chart on my father's boat (about a year old) has Sand Key marked as a small island and has it filled in yellow just as other islands on the chart are. This clearly indicates that the map company considers Sand Key to be an island. -  Marc Averette 16:24, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
 * It's a definition thing. If it's below the high water mark, it's not considered dry land, no matter if it dries most of the time.--Ratzer 20:08, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

who says inhabited?
according to U.S. 2000 census of population, Ballast Key is (was) uninhabited. Anyone with newer population figures? Sources? Until then, I take out the "inhabited" from the main article.--Ratzer 20:08, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

now what's the size?
The real estate reference says 26 acres, the wikipedia article itself adds up to 24 acres (19 plus 5), but the Bureau of the Census figure for the corresponding block says 51,542 m² (which means barely 13 acres), of which 4,741 m² are some inland water body (pond?). Is the real estate company (or the present owner) provide an exaggerated figure, so he can ask for more money? No, I'm not interested in buying the island (well, that is, unless I get it for a tiny fraction of the asking price :-)--Ratzer 13:12, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * One problem could be that they round the wet + dry acreage before they add them together, amplifying the error of the final acreage. Another could be that the original acreage was smaller and the owner filled in, added beaches, seawalls, etc.  making the island bigger now than before.  -  Marc Averette 01:25, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * well I zoomed into it on NASA World Wind and measured it: 540 meters north-south, and 70 to 130 meters wide, perhaps 100 on the average. makes 54,000 m², or a little more than 13 acres. The higher figures between 24 and 26 acres are clearly wrong, that much can be gauged from the sat image. I corrected the area figure in the article.--Ratzer 21:26, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The realtors are advertising the size as double what it is? Odd that they should be telling an outright lie.  They must be counting the beaches at low tide.  If you look at some of the pictures on the realtor’s website they show some low tide shots where a large amount of land (approximately doubling the size of the isle) is exposed.  Perhaps the realtors color the definitions as to what suits them to get a bigger sale price, or to create the illusion that the buyer is getting a lower price per acre.  -  Marc Averette 22:44, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Who owns it?
Is it a secret? Thehotelambush (talk) 06:08, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I was the caretaker of Ballast Key, living there entirely by myself from October 1976 to November 1977, and would be happy to answer any questions regarding the island. I still feel like Ballast Key is a part of me. I will never forget the intricities of every beach, every foot path and the eastern tidal channel in which I used to spearfish and catch lobster, occasionally as my only source of food. There were only 5 native coconut palms on the island until 1976. I led the crew David Wolkowsky sent out from among his employees at the Pier House Hotel, operating a backhoe, and planted 300 coconuts of the Jamaican Tall variety that resulted in the the coconut palms that you see on the island today.

The house in the photo was unfinished at that time; only a steel girder frame with reinforced concrete decks. There was an upscale houseboat, which I understand was lost in a storm in '78 or '79 and was later found trashed by the elements beached somewhere in the Bahamas. There was also a trailer, covered with bamboo and with wooden decks on both sides, so as to look very islandy, and a utility shed with a propane generator. There was also a dock at the southwest beach, a small rowboat and a Ford backhoe. I spent the night in the trailer most nights, but occasionally slept in the house boat for some variety.

As far as I know, Sand Key, a sand bar with a light house, but no vegetation, is permanently above the mean high tide line, which is the determination for a charted island. Sand Key IS the southernmost land in the continental US and the closest to Cuba. I refer you to the original cover of Jimmy Buffet's album "Havana Daydreaming" which has Sand Key Lighthouse behind Buffet on the cover art. Sand Key is of course not inhabited. When I lived on Ballast Key I was the southernmost person in the continental US and Ballast Key was the southernmost point of inhabited land. I do not know what happened to the "permanent inhabitation" of Ballast Key after I left in 1977.

I understood that the island was surveyed at 24 acres shortly before I lived there. As I see it now on Google Earth, it appears that a considerable amount of the sandy beaches have washed away. The long sand bar at the western end of Woman Key that was the habitat for vast numbers of exotic birds, is gone as well. The other reported differences in the acreage of Ballast Key would definitely be related to the large salt water lagoon on the south side of the island. It was probably 3 to 4 acres in size and brackish year round but fresh enough to support nasty clouds of mosquitoes during the rainy season. During those months, Oct. thru Dec., you could not venture outdoors without serious levels of mosquito repellent.

Celebrities were frequent visitors to Ballast Key. Once Dick Cavett replaced me for my usual two days off every two weeks. I also remember spending a day with British actress, Jean Marsh. There were also numerous writers (Wolkowsky was a literature junkie) and the great-great grandson of Dr. Mudd, infamous for setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth after the Lincoln assassination. He was also a doctor named Mudd, and had come from visiting Ft. Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, the site where his famous ancestor had been imprisoned, yet earned his freedom fighting a malaria epidemic.

The short 13 months I spent on Ballast Key are among the most memorable in my life. I saw so much incredible natural phenomena I cannot possible describe: northern weather fronts in a line of solid black clouds only 50 feet high with as many as 17 waterspouts headed my way; ball lighting (I am still convinced there is nothing weirder on earth), southern rays with a twelve foot wingspan, miniature coral reefs growing in perfect circles left by Navy test bomb craters, giant land crabs 3 foot across, and an amazingly noble,extremely old, 6 foot tall great white heron who came to Ballast Key to die. My experience has made me a lifelong environmentalist and a true lover of nature in all it's forms.

StlKid (talk) 02:25, 22 November 2009 (UTC)StLKid