Crane Point Museum, Marathon

A great little museum and you can learn a lot up until you see the Crane House. How sad that someone would show a dump that someone is actually IS living in and storing an array of trashY items. There were mattresses thrown about the property and we actually thought we stumbled up a deserted foreclosed property. HOW SAD

the crane point museum is a very interesting place to visit when in marathon. crane point originally was a 32 acre plot of land that was bought by george adderley from the bahamas in the 1890's. over a period of time a number of bahamians came here and cranes point was known as adderley village. at the crane point museum you can see the original adderley house, a museum with a number of old keys relics, a wild bird center, and a nature trail. for those interested in keys history and nature this is a very worth while place to visit.

Crane Point Museum & Nature Center, the official name, is a great place for all ages to spend the day. Included in admission are activities for every age, including a Pirate Ship Play area and dress up clothes, Tropical Lagoon Fish, Wild Bird Rescue Center, Nature Trails, Bahamian Adderley House and beautiful views of the Gulf of Mexico from the Point.

Also, the Museum of Natural History and the gift shop where you first walk in are great, especially if you want to cool off in the air conditioning after your hike!

Don't miss out on Crane Point, my family spend about 3 hours there but you could definitely spend all day. Next time we are going to rent kayaks from Marathon Kayak, they bring the kayaks over to Crane Point and help you get started. :)

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Inside the museum is a Natural History section with dioramas of local flora and fauna and historic displays. Out in the back of the main museum building is a small aquarium and zoo, and a children's museum section. Then there are several nature trails that you can walk. Many of the plants have signs telling what they are.

The main trail is big enough for a little train (and they do have train tours if you sign up in advance), and is about a mile over to Crane Point where there is a house. There are also a few houses over on Florida Bay and a Wild Bird Center out on this trail. We did not go out that far, and so we also missed the osprey nest. But we see plenty of osprey nests from our boat.

I spent some time on the walk photographing spiders in their webs

In any case, we walked out to the Adderley House on a secondary trail, and came back on the main trail. Then we crossed the boardwalk over the end of the freshwater pond and went around a little trail on the other side. There are 160 species of native plants in the hammock including red, white and black mangroves.

Admission $7.50 per adult. Children under 6 free, students 6 and up $4.00 (college students must have ID) and seniors $6.00.

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Included in the Crane Point admission price is Adderley House which is the oldest house in the Keys except for those in Key West. It is out towards Crane Point and it requires a walk to get to it.

George and Olivia Adderley were Bahamians who sailed to the Keys in the 1890s. After they lived in the upper keys for several years, they purchased 32 acres at what is now known as Crane Point.

The house, which George built himself, is made of Tabby, a concrete like material made of burned conch and other shells mixed with water and sand. It is a classic Bahamian style. Note the shutters which open from the bottom to keep the window shaded from the sun.

After almost 50 years, Olivia died, and George Adderley sold his property to the Cranes and moved to Key West. That's how the area got the name of Crane Point.