The Oldest House In Marathon

 The George Adderley House is an interesting look back in history that you can still walk into and look at today. Built in 1906, this house is the oldest house outside of Key West in the Florida Keys. 

George Adderley lived in New Providence in the Bahamas before moving to the United States in 1890, and later on purchased 32.35 acres of land that is now known as Crane Point. The style of the home is similar to rural Bahamian homes of the time, in a native style that was meant to be functional with the needs of the person building the home. It was built using tabby, which is created from sand, lime, and either shells or rocks, in the case of many people living in the Keys or the Bahamas, the Queen Conch was used. This is something I had never heard of before visiting this house today, and was honestly really interesting to read about. Shells were burned to remove the lime from them, and then salt was removed from the shells and sand and once the shells, sand, and lime were put together the tabby concrete was created. The burning of the shells to get the lime was a risky move as the lime itself was dangerous to touch and could burn a person's skin if they are not careful. It’s crazy to think about how differently things were built back then, because in the grand scheme of things it really was not all that long ago. Despite that, this is one of the oldest buildings in the Florida Keys which also goes to show just how long it took for the Keys to become as popular as they are now, it’s a prime example of how even one hundred years ago the Florida Keys were a far cry from what they are now. However, they were also healthier than they are now because there was no development happening in the area attempting to destroy ecosystems, as people so often do when they populate a new area. Now places like Crane Point Hammock are all that is left of the trees and wildlife that used to take up much more of the area.