Early pioneers in the Florida Keys built their homes along the island chain's Atlantic edges to benefit from ocean breezes, which before pest control and electricity offered rudimentary pest control and cooling. Before Henry Flagler's Over-Sea Railroad arrived, Florida Keys communities were boat cultures that depended on favorable sailing conditions to connect with the outside world for food staples, ice, mail, and visits with family and friends. The Russell, Pinder, and Parker families, all Bahamians who sailed to the Florida Keys, were the first to make homestead claims on Upper Matecumbe Key, the heart of Islamorada. By 1884, leading merchants owned tracts of land on the Keys devoted to growing pineapples, tomatoes, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, cassava, tapias, beets, carrots, turnips, and various tropical fruits, with pineapple shipments alone averaging more than $200,000 per year.