Nobody owns the roosters of Key West.

Hey Keys lovers!

If you've ever been woken up at 5 a.m. in Key West by a rooster crowing outside your window, you've experienced one of the island's most beloved — and occasionally maddening — traditions. This week, we're diving into the wild, surprisingly deep history of Key West's famous feral chickens. Plus: the 2026 Bubba Awards are in, a Key West historian is unpacking one of America's great mysteries, and the Key West Rum Fest kicks off today.

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❓ Keys Trivia

In 2002, a 510-foot Navy ship was intentionally sunk off Key Largo to create an artificial reef - but it landed upside down. What finally flipped it right-side up?

Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.

📣 The Mile Marker Roundup

🏆 2026 Bubba Awards Are In: The Keys Weekly People's Choice Awards have crowned their 2026 winners. At the Key West Historic Seaport, Conch Republic Seafood Company, Half Shell Raw Bar, and Boat House Bar & Grill all took home top honors. Kermit's Key Lime Shoppe won Best Key Lime Pie, and Key West Shawn was named Best Local Celebrity. Read more → https://keysweekly.com/42/2026-bubba-awards-bring-bragging-rights/

🦞 Key West Lobsterfest Wraps Up: The 28th Annual Key West Lobsterfest celebrated the opening of Florida's regular spiny lobster season with five days of lobster boils, pool parties, and a massive Duval Street fair featuring a contest for the best lobster dish on the island. Read more →

🛍️ Artisan Market "Lobster Best" Edition: The Key West Artisan Market concluded its 2026 Summer Pop-Up Series with a "Lobster Best" edition at Indigenous Park across from Higgs Beach. The event featured local artisans, lobster empanadas, and free tours of the Key West Wildlife Center. Read more →

🍹 Key West Rum Fest Kicks Off: The 3rd Annual Key West Rum Fest begins today, August 10. The week-long celebration features rum tastings, master classes, sunset sails, and live music across the island, with proceeds benefiting a local nonprofit. Read more →

🌴 Partner Spotlight

Your Guide to Key West Rum Fest

If you are looking for a reason to visit Key West this week, we have a great one. The 3rd Annual Key West Rum Fest kicks off today and runs through Saturday, August 16. This week-long celebration brings together distillers from around the world for tastings, master classes, culinary events, and island excursions.

The highlight of the week is the Grand Tasting on Saturday, August 15 - which happens to be National Rum Day - at the Key West Theater. Over 40 vendors will be pouring their finest rums, from aged sipping rums to tropical blends. Throughout the week, look for pool parties, sunset sails, and rum-paired dinners at restaurants across the island.

The best part? All proceeds benefit MARC Inc. (Monroe Association for Remarkable Citizens), a local nonprofit that provides vital services and support for adults with developmental disabilities in the Florida Keys. So every sip supports a great cause.

Tickets and the full schedule are available at rumfestkeywest.com.

🧩 Deep Dive

The Wild, Wonderful History of Key West's Roosters
If you have ever visited Key West, you have met the chickens. They strut down Duval Street, lounge under café tables, and crow at whatever hour they feel like it. They are everywhere — and they have been for a very long time.

The story starts in the 1820s, when Key West's earliest settlers brought chickens from Cuba and the Caribbean. At the time, the island had no roads connecting it to the mainland, no grocery stores, and no reliable supply chain. Chickens were a practical necessity — a source of eggs and meat on a remote island surrounded by sea. Settlers kept them in coops, sold them by the dozen, and treated them like livestock.

Then the 1860s brought a wave of Cuban immigrants fleeing the Ten Year War, and with them came a new tradition: cockfighting. The roosters bred for the sport were territorial, aggressive, and prized. Cockfighting thrived in Key West for over a century, until it was outlawed in the late 1970s. With the sport gone, cockfighters simply opened the cages and let their birds go. The roosters had nowhere to be, and Key West had no natural predators to worry about.

Over the following decades, the feral population grew. In 1998, Hurricane Georges scattered chickens all across the island, and they have been multiplying ever since. A city-employed chicken catcher was hired in the early 2000s to reduce the population — and promptly quit after a fierce backlash from chicken enthusiasts.

Today, Key West's gypsy chickens are as much a part of the island as the Southernmost Point Buoy. They have their own souvenir shops, their own devoted fans, and their own unofficial status as island mascots. The rooster, which symbolizes good luck, new beginnings, and hope, has become the unofficial symbol of Key West.

The city has tried everything from catch-and-relocate programs to banning public feeding. None of it has worked. The chickens, as always, do exactly what they want.

🕰️ Lore & Legends

Hannah Brooks: Key West's 102-Year-Old Healer

While many Florida Keys legends focus on pirates and shipwrecks, the story of Hannah Brooks is one of quiet, enduring resilience. Born in St. Augustine around 1800, Brooks came to Key West in the 1840s as a free Black woman. At the time, approximately 20 percent of Key West's Black population was free.

Brooks was a trained nurse, and she arrived during an era when professional medical care was scarce on the remote island. Over the course of seven decades, she ministered to almost every family in Key West. She delivered babies, tended to the sick, and comforted the dying.

Her remarkable life spanned some of the most transformative eras in Keys history. She witnessed the peak of the wrecking boom that made Key West the richest city per capita in America. She lived through the Civil War, the rise of the cigar industry, and the turn of the 20th century.

When Hannah Brooks passed away on April 30, 1902, she was an extraordinary 102 years old. She had lived in Key West for 70 years, leaving behind a legacy of healing and community service that shaped the early days of the southernmost city. Today, her story is being rediscovered and celebrated as a vital piece of Key West's diverse heritage.

✅ Trivia Answer

Hurricane Dennis.

In May 2002, the 510-foot retired Navy landing ship USS Spiegel Grove was intentionally scuttled off Key Largo to create one of the world's largest artificial reefs. But things went wrong. The massive ship sank prematurely and rolled over, landing completely upside down.

Salvage crews spent weeks and significant funds just to get the ship to lay on its starboard side in 130 feet of water. It remained there for three years. Then, in July 2005, Hurricane Dennis generated massive underwater currents that did what engineers could not. The storm's powerful waves flipped the enormous ship fully upright onto its keel - exactly the position originally intended.

Today, it remains upright, a thriving ecosystem and world-class dive site.

Until next week, keep your windows down and your watch off.
— The Florida Keys Road Trip Team

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