Two boat-only islands, Indian Key, a bare 11-acre island that was once the county seat of Dade County with a hotel and streets…Two boat-only islands, Indian Key, a bare 11-acre island that was once the county seat of Dade County with a hotel and streets, now just foundations and cisterns among the scrub; and Lignumvitae Key, a virgin tropical hardwood hammock, the forest the rest of the Keys lost, with a 1919 house at its centre. Indian Key was a wrecking-industry boomtown, and in August 1840 was attacked and burned during the Second Seminole War; botanist Henry Perrine was killed there and his family survived by hiding under the wharf. Lignumvitae was bought by a family who never cleared it, which is why 280 acres of original Keys hammock still exist. Anchorage: Anchor off in 1.5-3m and tender ashore. Shoal-draught work with a rising tide; the channels between the keys run hard. Hazards: Shallow seagrass banks, scarring carries penalties. Strong tidal current through the channels. Mehr