Long Key State Park preserves a 965-acre island in the middle Florida Keys whose landscape was formed by prehistoric coral reefs when sea level was much higher than today. Its warm waters supported the Calusa before European arrival, and Spaniards later called it Cayo Vivora. In the early 20th century, Long Key became a notable stop on Henry Flagler’s railroad extension to Key West and home to the Long Key Fishing Camp, a resort for prominent saltwater anglers, until the 1935 Labor Day hurricane destroyed both the club and railroad. Created through land acquisitions from 1961 to 1973 and opened in 1969, the park protects Caribbean-linked plant communities, shallow marine habitat, and abundant birdlife.