Key West's Other "Southernmost" Landmarks

Spend an hour in Key West and you will notice a pattern: the Southernmost House, the Southernmost Hotel, the Southernmost Beach Cafe, and a long list of shops and guest houses. Being the southernmost city in the continental United States is Key West’s favorite bragging right, and the island has put the word on just about everything. Here are the “southernmost” sights worth seeking out, starting with the one this webcam watches.

The original and most famous. The painted concrete buoy at South and Whitehead Streets has marked the “Southernmost Point Continental U.S.A.” since 1983. It is closed for restoration into 2027, with a full-size replica standing in at 1400 Duval Street. Learn its history, find directions, or watch it on the live cam.

At the foot of Duval Street, this ornate Queen Anne mansion was built in 1896 for Judge Vining Harris and Florida Curry, daughter of the wealthy Key West merchant William Curry. Its turrets, wraparound porches and ocean frontage make it one of the most photographed homes on the island, and it sits right next to the temporary replica buoy.

On neighboring Stock Island, this garden bills itself as the only frost-free tropical botanical garden in the continental United States. That claim follows directly from Key West’s southern location, since the island has never recorded frost. It protects native hardwood hammock, freshwater ponds and rare plants, and it is a haven for migrating birds.

The blocks around the buoy and the southern end of Duval Street are lined with businesses that have claimed the name, including oceanfront resorts, beach cafes and historic guest houses. It has become a local joke and a point of pride. Try counting how many “southernmost” signs you pass on a walk from Mallory Square to the buoy. Most people lose count.

The one “southernmost” landmark you cannot visit is the true southernmost point of the continental United States, Ballast Key, about nine miles west of Key West. Once a private island, it is now protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The buoy gets the photos, and Ballast Key gets the technicality.

Key West has always marketed itself as the place at the end of everything: the end of U.S. 1, the end of the Florida Keys, the edge of the country. “Southernmost” captures that in one word, and visitors love it. It is also a genuinely unique claim, since no other city in the lower 48 can make it. So the next time you see the “southernmost” sandwich shop, remember that in Key West it is not just marketing. It is geography.

Visiting several of these in one day? Our walking tour from the Southernmost Point links most of them in a single route.