Gary McAdams

About Me

I am a second generation Realtor serving The Florida Keys. I moved to The Keys from Boston in 1996. I enjoy the "Florida Keys Lifestyle" and everything it has to offer. Before moving to The Keys I worked in a family run business after graduating with a degree in Business Communications. I am proud to offer the service you would expect from a company like GMAC. I know I have done my job well when people who start off as customers become my neighbors and my friends. I look forward to the opportunity to add you to my list of friends and making you a member of Our Florida Keys Community. Follow the market in Key West and The Florida Keys by reading my blogs. They are updated directly from The MLS everyday.

A drive down The Keys

The three hour drive through the Florida Keys is surely America's most unique motor journey. No other place in America combines the scenic ocean views of the Overseas Highway with a local community that is proud to show off its history and natural wonders.

Key Largo is the first island you will see as you enter the 110-mile Florida Keys chain. It is our longest island and the one where Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall battled Edward G. Robinson and a hurricane in the 1948 gangster movie "Key Largo."

Today, visitors can take a tour on The African Queen, the boat Bogart and Katharine Hepburn fell in in the 1951 movie, "The African Queen," which is set in World War I Africa.

After Key Largo you will reach Islamorada, a village of homey islands that includes Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe Key and Lower Matecumbe Key. Morada means purple in Spanish, and lore has it the early Spanish explorers named these isles for the floating purple sea snails, or janthina janthina, they probably saw feeding on jelly fish near the islands.

Two offshore islands here have special pasts. On Indian Key, you can see the site where early settlers were attacked by raiding Indians. Set foot on Lignumvitae Key and your are walking on an ancient, modestly elevated patch of land where tropical hardwood trees, including the lignum vitae, have taken root. Both islands are accessible only by boat.

Islamorada also prides itself as the Sportfishing Capital of the World. Here, you can venture offshore on a charter boat for a chance at the beautiful, acrobatic sailfish or the magnificently colored dolphin fish a.k.a mahi-mahi. Hire a guide and you can take to the shallow near-shore waters to catch the mysterious ghost of the flats, the bonefish, or venture into the backcountry to catch redfish and tarpon.
Keep heading southwest from Islamorada, and soon you will see Long Key State Park. Here, you can walk through undeveloped tropical forests that are representative of the Keys wilderness of a century ago. Get back on the road and you will come to Grassy Key. At the Dolphin Research Center here you will have a rare opportunity for one-on-one contact with these intelligent mammals.

Key Colony Beach is a nice, upscale and very tight knit community. It was the first area to break away from unincorporated Monroe County and become The City of Key Colony Beach. The city was founded in the early fifties by developer Phil Sadowski and was incorporated in September 1957. Two other areas have left unincorporated Monroe County since then. First was The City of Marathon followed by The Village of Islamorada but I don't think either of them have the small town tight community feeling you get when you're in Key Colony Beach.

Marathon at the heart of the Florida Keys is also home to Crane Point Hammock. This 64 acre reserve is some of the most historically and archaeologically-rich land in the Keys. Pre-Columbian artifacts have been discovered here, and the site is home to the Museum of Natural History of The Florida Keys and the Children's Museum.

After Marathon, you will reach the foot of the Seven Mile Bridge which is the gateway to the Lower Keys. Don't pass up the small island below the bridge. Pigeon Key once housed the workers who built Flaglers' railroad in the early 1900s. Today, you can take a tour of this island and view a snapshot of life in the early 20th century.

After the Seven Mile Bridge, the vast sweep of the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico can easily be seen from Bahia Honda Bridge. Stop at the state park here and you can experience a beach that is frequently listed as one of the most beautiful in the United States. It's easy to see why the Keys are recognized as America's Caribbean Islands.

Big Pine Key and the rest of the Lower Keys are next. Big Pine is the jumping off point for looe Key, a shallow coral formation that is one of the most spectacular shallow water dive locations anywhere. Big Pine is also home to the diminutive Key deer, a subspecies of the white tail deer. There are even a few alligators in a pond nicknamed the Blue Hole that's tucked away in a pine and palm grove.

The Torch Keys lie between Big Pine Key and Ramrod Key, approximately 28 miles from Key West. There are three islands, Little Torch Key, Middle Torch Key and Big Torch Key. All are said to have been named for a small tree called torchwood, that will burn even while green. This made torchwood an important resource for the early settlers here. Little Torch is the most densely populated of the three with a development on the eastern shore south of the highway, and many more homes scattered northward to the tip of the island. Big and Middle Torch are mostly all protected state and federal lands consisting of mostly transitional wetlands and hardwood hammocks. Along US 1 you will find a full service marina with boat rentals, dive shop, bait and tackle and of course fuel. There are two restaurants, a motel and a church

Ramrod Key. This quiet laid-back key is located some 27 miles from Key West and just across the Niles Channel Bridge from Summerland Key. On Ramrod Key you will find most of the homes located along the eastern shore both north and south of US 1. Here you will find two restaurants, a dive shop-motel, a gas station-convenience store and an excellent veterinary hospital.

A good portion of the key consists of wetlands and transitional wetlands mostly south of the highway and encompasses all but the eastern shore. Ramrod Key is said to have been named after a ship that wrecked on the reef south of the island in the early 19th century.

Located a little over 24 miles from Key West, Summerland Key boasts a bit more commercial activity along US 1. You will find among it's amenities a very nice small grocery store, a post office, two gas station/convenience stores (one with boat fuel on a canal behind), two boat rentals, a small but good charter fishing fleet, a florist, a video store, a really great little hardware store, two beauty shops, several professional offices, a large tourist gift store and five restaurants.

Summerland Key is said to have been named for it's prevailing summer-like weather and trade winds. Almost all the homes are located south of US 1 and provide for excellent deep draft boating to the Ocean and Gulf. The remainder of the land mass is mostly wetlands, transitional wetlands and some hardwood hammocks.

Located about 21 miles from Key West, Cudjoe Key is probably best known for "Fat Albert", a military aerostat blimp tethered at the north end of the island since the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early sixties. This Key also has some interesting theories about it's name. One is simply that early settlers would come here to "cut joe", the joewood trees that were so prevalent. Another talks of an early Key Wester with a speech impediment who referred to his cousin Joe, then living on the island, as "Cud Joe". A third theory has a freed slave residing here taking the name Cudjoe for himself in reverence to a Jamaican rebel slave leader.

There appears to be possibly two theories on how Sugarloaf Key got it's name. One would tell us simply that there was once a very large Indian mound near the eastern shore just north of what is now the Bow Channel bridge, that was shaped like an old fashioned loaf of sugar, hence the name. The second theory is that it was simply named after the Sugarloaf Pineapples which were once grown here commercially. On the north side of the highway, near the airstrip and behind the Sugarloaf Lodge marina and restaurant can be found the famous "Bat Tower" constructed by Richter C. Perky in 1929. The fifty foot wooden tower was built to house large colonies of bats which in turn would hopefully devour the clouds of mosquitoes. The bait was put out, but the bats never showed up, leaving the tower a conversational point of interest to this day.

Today, Sugarloaf Key, which is 17 miles from Key West, boasts a motel and restaurant, a marina with a bait and tackle shop, a convenience store/deli/gas station, a post office, a bank, an airstrip, a large marine dealer and repair business and an auto repair shop. There is an excellent kayak eco-tour departing from the marina plus canoe and kayak rentals available. The key also has a fire station, an elementary school and a church.

Just below Sugarloaf Key are The Saddlebunch Keys. There are five (5) Saddlebunch Keys. Saddlebunch 1 is the only of the five to have residential and commercial development on it. There is a variety of upscale open water and canal front homes as well as a high end RV community called Blue Water Key. The remainder of the Saddle Bunch Keys are military owned.

Next comes Shark Key. An extremely luxury gated community with multi million dollar homes desired by many but home to few.

Big Coppitt Key is the last of the privately owned and developed islands before getting to Key West. Big Coppitt Key has a large variety of homes ranging from open water estates to low end mobile homes. Many people desire Big Coppitt Key due to the close proximity to Key West at a more affordable price. Many of the Military personel stationed at The Naval Air Strip live on Big Coppitt Key whereas it is an extremely small commute to the base.

One of Key West's most prominent waterfront communities is Key Haven. Combine great boating with a five (5) minute commute to down town's galleries, shops and fine restaurants and it equals extremely desirable living situation. Key Haven is very tight knit family setting giving it's residents a true neighborhood feeling. This is one of the only all residential development areas in The Florida Keys. The only commercial development in Key Haven is a small gas station. The residents like it that way. Stop by and take a look. You'll be glad you did.

One of Key West's most upcoming areas is Stock Island. Stock Island has a fishing village environment feeling to it. This is a last chance to get into a Key West home without the Key West price. Stock Island has the best boating offered south of Islamorada. At one point in time it was home to a small weekender cruise ship. A great amount of Stock Island is underway to becoming one of The Keys most upscale Marina developments. Many of The Florida Keys larger developers are investing in Stock Island with big profits to be made but it is a long term investment for sure.

Keep exploring and before long, you'll find yourself in Key West, the final stop on the Overseas Highway. Here, the land meets the sea amid 19th-century charm and 21st-century attractions. This is the nation's southernmost city, and it is actually closer to Havana than Miami.

Stop the car and take a stroll amid the tiny, colorfully-restored homes where thousands of cigar workers lived in the 19th century. You will also see huge mansions that were built by business tycoons and city leaders. Some have been converted into guest houses and inns with modern swimming pools and lush tropical gardens.

Stop to chat with the locals and you might come across one of the native-born Key Westers, who call themselves Conchs. Be sure to ask the Conchs about the Key West of their childhood, from the tropical fruit trees in their yards to the namesake shellfish they gathered in the shallow near-shore waters.

You can easily see why novelist Ernest Hemingway found inspiration for some of his best work here. Hemingway purchased a pre-Civil War mansion on Whitehead Street in the 1930s and lived in it for nearly a decade. These days, thousands of visitors seek out his home which is now a museum.

Treasure hunter Mel Fisher also called Key West home. Using Key West as a base, he recovered millions of dollars worth of gold and silver from the ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a 17th century Spanish galleon that sank 45 miles west of Key West. Years before he died, Fisher had the good sense to establish the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society Museum, where visitors can view and even touch some of the riches of the Atocha and the Santa Margarita.

If you've timed your drive right, you've reached Key West just in time for sunset. Visitors and local artists gather on the dock at Mallory Square each evening to celebrate the end to another tropical day. Musicians, jugglers, mimes, and the occasional fire-eater entertain you while local food vendors keep you fed. The daily sunset celebration has become one of Key West's greatest traditions.

After sunset, the fun is just beginning. When the night falls, chances are you can find a restaurant or watering hole to meet your tastes. Many bars offer live music, including New Orleans-style jazz and local tropical creations. If you like plays or musicals, you're in luck too. Key West has several small theaters that showcase performances by local acting troupes. And the island even has a symphony now.

When you lie down at the end of the day, you'll realize the drive was worth it.

Testimonials

Gary was the best thing to happen to my investing life. I've known him since he was about 10 years old. He sold me a house in 2001 for $275,000 and another in 2002 for $315,000. I sold one of them for $680 in 2005 and I still own the other that was appraised for $800,000 this year. When I wanted to sell it he was honest enough to tell me not to list it now walking away from a listing. My kids are going to the Ivy Leagues and Gary's recommendations are paying the bill.

Sally Harvey, Boston, MA