Welcome to the Pigeon Key Foundation & Marine Science Center. Here, Henry Flagler saw the potential for the Keys and opened the islands of the Florida Keys to the world. What was once called Flagler’s Folly has become Flagler’s Legend. Please come inside and see where history, marine science, architecture and education come together on one small 5-acre island!



Pigeon Key is located 2.2 miles due west of Marathon in the Florida Keys. Located approximately 45 miles from Key West and 100 miles southwest of Miami, the island connects to Marathon via the Old Seven Mile Bridge built by Henry Flagler for his Florida East Coast Railway. Pigeon Key is operated by the Pigeon Key Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history and environment of the Florida Keys through education and research.

Today Pigeon Key and a few of the original structures used as the base camp and later for bridge maintenance survives as a museum, dedicated to the builders of the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast. Maps, historic photos, models and a wonderful picture postcard collection of the Key West Extension can be found in the island's museum. It is reached by an intact section of the original bridge off of Knights Key, which now serves as a biking, hiking and fishing pier. Most of the original Seven Mile Bridge is still in existence. The abandoned railroad right of way was converted to form the base for the Overseas Highway to Key West. Later, a new highway bridge across the Seven Mile gap was built adjacent to the old railroad bridge. So, please come to the Keys and take a trolley car from the Pigeon Key Visitor’s Center to the historic Island, and step back in time to the way it used to be!