How the Keys got their names:   http://keys.fiu.edu/gazetteer/index.html

Tidbits of History

Remember Blacky Cruz? People who were here in the '50s and 60's may remember on old Conch named Blacky Cruz. Blacky had been a turtle fisherman out of Key West in his youth and after watching the decline of the turtle population he spent his senior years trying to undo some of the damage he had done while a young man.

He was given the use of some property and a canal located on Ramrod Key at the NE corner of Niles Channel and US 1. I think the property was owned by the Spotswoods. Blacky built an array of holding tanks, pens and incubators that he used for hatching and raising turtles. The incubators consisted of sand filled boxes mounted on legs. Each had a ramp that ran from the surface of the sand down into a large seawater tank. People who knew of Blacky and his interest in turtles would alert him to the presence of turtle nests and he would travel up and down the Keys collecting eggs from nests. He then buried the eggs in his incubators where they were kept damp until they hatched. When the baby turtles hatched they would dig up through the sand and then, after moving about on the surface of the incubator, they would stumble onto the ramp and slide down into the holding tank.

He fed and reared the hatchlings until they were about a year old and then released them into the wild. Since the newly hatched turtles were the most vulnerable to predation he figured that the one year head start he provided through his efforts was serving to promote the recovery of the local turtle population. He was trying to pay back for the impact made by him and his fellow fishermen. It’s hard to know whether his efforts were useful, but he meant well. Today, he would probably get arrested.

I remember him too. He certainly knew a lot about sea turtles. There was even tension between him and some of the more educated "experts” of the day. Just because Blacky didn't have a PhD behind his name, they wouldn't take him seriously. His practical knowledge was enormous. He also had a permit from the state to do research.  Recently his grandson, who still lives here, gave me a book that Blacky wrote about sea turtles. In it he explained how he got his interest and first hand knowledge of turtles. Someone borrowed the book but I believe the title was Saga of the sea turtle interesting reading for anyone interested in the history of the old Keys. The turtle pens are still there on Ramrod Key, I see them every day. I have been the caretaker of that property since 1979.

Cudjoe Key is a census-designated place and town in Monroe County, Florida, on an island of the same name in the lower Florida Keys. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 1,695. It was originally called Littleton Island.

Possibly named for the Joewood tree (Jacquinia keyensis Mez), a native species which is also known as cudjoewood. A more likely derivation for the name is offered by writer John Viele of Summerland Key. He believes that Cudjoe, which is a very common West African name, was the name of a runaway or freed black who lived on the island at some point prior to Gerdes' survey in 1849.