Ballast Key

Ballast Key

Ballast Key is an island in the Florida Keys in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is the southernmost point of land in the contiguous United States. It is also the only privately owned land within the boundaries of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge, and is being offered on the real estate market for US $15,800,000.^[1]

Located in the Outlying Islands of the Florida Keys, it is one of the Mule Keys that are nine miles (15 km) west of Key West. The island's 26 acres (110,000 m²) are privately owned by Key West developer David W. Wolkowsky through the David W. Wolkowsky Trust. The island is nicknamed Wolkow's Key.

Ballast Key had a cameo appearance in the Bond movie Licence to Kill and it and Mr. Wolkowsky made the pages of the novel as well. "David, it's James, James Bond...I've broken into your island. I hope you don't mind", reads a passage in the book. Over the years, Wolkowsky has hosted numerous artists, writers and celebrities on Ballast Key, including Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Nancy Friday, Judy Blume, John Hersey, John Malcolm Brinnin, Richard Wilbur, Robert Stone, British Prime Minister Edward Heath, Prince Michael of Greece, Tony Richardson, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, The Bee Gees, Gloria Estefan, Natica Waterbury, Lucius Beebe, Lady Caroline Blackwood, and an occasional Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Mellon, and Duke. For many years, the island was patrolled by "Camila", Wolkowsky's pet Rottweiler.

Tennessee Williams often painted canvases while visiting David Wolkowsky on Ballast Key in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Ballast Key features a main house with four bedrooms and a master suite, and a fully equipped three-bedroom guesthouse overlooking a palm tree-lined sand beach. Water is supplied to the homes by desalination.

References

↑ Listing page

External links

Coordinates: 24°31′26″N 81°57′51″W / 24.52389°N 81.96417°W / 24.52389; -81.96417

Florida Keys

Biscayne National Park	Soldier Ragged Boca Chita Sands Elliott Adams Caesar's Rock Meig's Rubicon Reid Porgy Totten Old Rhodes Islandia

Upper keys	Key Largo Island CDP North Tavernier Plantation Island former CDP Windley Upper Matecumbe Tea Table Indian Lignumvitae Lower Matecumbe Islamorada

Middle keys	Craig Fiesta Long Layton Conch Little Duck Key Island CDP Grassy Crawl Long Point Fat Deer Vaca Marathon Key Colony Beach Boot Knights

Lower keys	Pigeon Money Little Duck Missouri Ohio Sunshine Bahia Honda Spanish Harbor Scout (West Summerland) No Name Big Pine Torch Little Middle Big Ramrod Summerland Knockemdown Cudjoe Sugarloaf Park Lower Sugarloaf Saddlebunch Shark Geiger Big Coppitt Island CDP East Rockland Rockland Boca Chica Raccoon Stock Island Island CDP Key West Island City Sigsbee Fleming Sunset Wisteria

Outlying islands	Mule Keys Mule Crawfish Archer Joe Ingram Big Mullet Barracouta Cottrell Man Little Mullet Ballast Woman Boca Grande Marquesas Keys Dry Tortugas Tortugas Banks (submerged)

Areas	Florida Bay Dry Tortugas National Park Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary National Key Deer Refuge John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Biscayne Bay Biscayne National Park Key West National Wildlife Refuge Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge Florida Reef

Other topics	Monroe County Conch Republic Overseas Highway Overseas Railroad Card Sound Bridge Jewfish Creek Bridge Seven Mile Bridge Bahia Honda Rail Bridge Fort Jefferson Theater of the Sea Hurricane Wilma 1935 Labor Day hurricane Key Deer Key lime pie Florida Keys Keynoter Key West Citizen

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