Crane Point
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Crane Point Museum, Nature Center and Historic Site is a non-profit natural history museum and nature center located in the City of Marathon on Key Vaca, in the heart of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, Florida, United States. Created in 1976, the Florida Keys Land & Sea Trust purchased the land and saved the area from being developed into private homes and shopping malls. The facility was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.[1]
Crane Point features several facilities:
- Museum of Natural History of the Florida Keys - Exhibits focus on the natural and cultural history of the Keys area, including Calusa Indians, Spanish explorers and other Keys pioneers, pirates, a diorama of a coral reef, butterflies, tree snails, sea turtles, shells, Key deer and local tropical fish. The museum was established in 1990. The museum is part of the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit, from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, that contains depictions of Keys heritage and landscapes.
- Florida Keys Children's Museum - features two saltwater lagoons and many marine touch tanks which contain native Keys invertebrates and fish, including a nurse shark, as well as an interactive pirate play area.
- George Adderley House - a historic house museum that was built by George Adderley, a Bahamian pioneer, in 1903 that still stands on Crane Point's property. The exterior of the house was constructed with Tabby, a concrete-like material made of burned conch and other shells and sand.
- Marathon Wild Bird Center - a rehabilitation center for injured and orphaned wild birds. Opened in 1998, the center also offers education programs and research projects. Some recovering birds can be viewed in the outdoor flight cage.
- Nature trails
Crane Point was formerly known as Tropical Crane Point Hammock.[2]
References
- Insiders' Guide to the Florida Keys and Key West
- "Crane Point Museum and Nature Center", Keys Living, May 27, 2008
- ^ "Weekly listing". National Park Service.
- ^ http://www.sherpaguides.com/florida/middle_keys/marathon.html Sherpa Guides - Middle Keys
External links and references
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crane Point Museum and Nature Center.
Categories:
- NRHPweekly errors
- Articles needing additional references from December 2019
- All articles needing additional references
- Articles needing additional references from January 2020
- Articles with multiple maintenance issues
- AC with 0 elements
- Museums in Monroe County, Florida
- Environmental organizations based in Florida
- Nature centers in Florida
- Wildlife rehabilitation and conservation centers
- Natural history museums in Florida
- Children's museums in Florida
- Tourist attractions in the Florida Keys
- Marathon, Florida
- 1976 establishments in Florida
- National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Florida
- All stub articles
- Non-profit organization stubs
- Florida museum stubs