Where did the Flinstones sleep? On a Bed Rock

In between dive trips in the keys on Sunday, we visited a few sites along the road in the keys to explore the local history and conservation efforts. One such visit was to the WIndley Key Fossil park, a former limestone quarry in the middle of Windley Key. The importance of this quarry was that digging only a few feet into the ground below us lead to fossils of ancient organisms. Walking through the exposed limestone walls took us back to the time florida didn’t even exist but was merely the seabed along the worlds oceans.

The history of this area dates back over a hundred years ago when it was sold to the Florida East Coast Railway company, who’s efforts were to build a connector from mainland Florida through the keys to aid in trade and travel. The purpose was to make an easier means of travel between the US and southern islands, mostly Cuba at the time but the railway had to cross long stretches of water to reach between each key, so the limestone rock from the quarry was used to support these railway bridges, one of which will be visible during the beach cleanup. Once the limestone was removed, it exposed depressions in the limestone sediment left by fossils of coral and other organic life from previous periods in history.


The limestone contains numerous types of coral including brain, star, and porous corals. These depressions formed from dead and calcified coral being slowly covered by mineral deposits over decades of soil buildup. Eventually this continuous covering and the subsequent pressure applied by the weight of the soil solidified the surrounding minerals into the limestone we see today, leaving gaps in the shape of the calcified coral which were then removed to leave these depressions we see today. Overall a very interesting tour and gave a keen insight to the past of the keys and how areas like this allow us to peer into the history of this area.

geology of the park
Florida state park site