Egmont Key State Park

Egmont Key State Park & National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)


Location	Hillsborough County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	St. Petersburg, Florida
Coordinates	27°35′11″N 82°45′41″W / 27.58625°N 82.761389°W / 27.58625; -82.761389Coordinates: 27°35′11″N 82°45′41″W / 27.58625°N 82.761389°W / 27.58625; -82.761389
Area	328 acres (1.33 km²)
Established	1974
Governing body	Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Website	Egmont Key State Park


Egmont Key
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Coordinates	27°35′24″N 82°45′46″W / 27.59000°N 82.76278°W / 27.59000; -82.76278
Area	450 acres (182 ha)
Built	1840
NRHP Reference #	78000946^[1]
Added to NRHP	December 11, 1978

Egmont Key State Park is a Florida State Park located on Egmont Key, at the mouth of Tampa Bay, in the state of Florida, United States. It lies southwest of Fort De Soto Park and can only be reached by boat or ferry. The Egmont Key Lighthouse and the ruins of Fort Dade, a Spanish–American War era fort, are located in the park. Egmont Key is in Hillsborough County in a narrow strip of the county that extends along the Tampa Port Shipping Channel.

Located on the south end of the island is the Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1974. It is one of the three 'Tampa Bay Refuges' and is administered as a part of the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

Egmont Key was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 11, 1978.

Fauna

Among the wildlife in the park are gopher tortoises, hummingbirds, and seabirds.

Recreational activities

Activities include sunbathing, swimming, shelling, boating, picnicing, snorkeling ,touring the fort, and wildlife viewing. Amenities include beaches, nature trails, and picnic tables. Food, water, and restrooms are not available in the park. No alcoholic beverages or pets of any kind are permitted on the island.

Hours

The park is open from 8:00 am until sundown year round.

History

Egmont key was surveyed by Spanish explorers in 1757. In 1761, the English named the island Egmont Key for the Earl of Egmont.^[2] With the rest of Florida, it passed back and forth between Spain and England and finally to the United States in 1827 ^[3] In 1847, concerns with hazardous navigation at the mouth of Tampa Bay led the construction of the first lighthouse. The Great Gale of 1848 swamped the island and all but destroyed the lighthouse.^[4] The lighthouse keeper reportedly rode out the storm in a rowboat tied to a palmetto. After the storm had passed, he rowed to Fort Brooke and tendered his resignation.^[3] In 1858, the lighthouse was replaced.

Defense considerations during the Spanish–American War led to the construction of Fort Dade. Egmont Key remained a military reservation for years. In 1974 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took over and turned the island over to the State of Florida in 1989 and it became a state park. In 2009, budgetary concerns led to a proposal to close the park.^[2]

Harbor pilot station

For over 70 years, Egmont Key has been the location of a pilot station serving ship traffic into and out of the port of Tampa.^[5]

Images

Beach on east side of island. Sunshine Skyway Bridge in background.
Aerobeacon lenses from old light.
View looking east toward Fort De Soto Park.
Looking north along eastern beach of Egmont Key.
Brick road, Fort Dade ruins.
Gopher tortoise by nature trail.
Beach with dead palm trees on west side of island.
West side of island.
Ruins on west side of island.
Reconstructed Guardhouse, Fort Dade
Egmont Key from ferry

Notes

↑ National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
1 2 Tomalin, Terry. "Tampa Bay's sentinel, Egmont Key, about to be left unguarded." page L2. The St. Petersburg Times. Online. February 6, 2009. Online.
1 2 Straub, W. L. History of Pinellas County. page 27. The Record Company. St. Augustine, Florida. 1929.
↑ Baker, Rick. Mangroves to Major League: a Timeline of St. Petersburg, Florida. page 18. St. Petersburg. Southern Heritage Press. 2000.
↑ Tampa Bay Online: Harbor Pilot's Egmont Key Station

References

Egmont Key State Park at Florida State Parks
Egmont Key State Park at Absolutely Florida
Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Hillsborough County listings at Register of Historic Places
Hillsborough County listings at Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Egmont Key State Park.

Protected areas of Florida

Federal

National Parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades

National Memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline

National Monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas

National Seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands

National Forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola

National Wildlife Refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands

Other National Protected Areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries	Apalachicola NERR Florida Keys NMS Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR

State

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier-Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef John U. Lloyd Beach Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef

Botanical Garden Parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks

Lakes, Rivers and Springs Parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Three Rivers Troy Springs Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs

Recreation Areas	Gamble Rogers Memorial

Museums, Historic sites, and Archaeological sites	Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater

Preserves and Reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Estero Bay Fakahatchee Strand Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh

State Trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee

State Forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Other

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

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