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Every year for my birthday and our wedding anniversary, my husband and I seek out some sun and fun!
This year, we decided to do something a little different. We were going to seek out some adventure (and sun) in New Mexico. Our five days were all planned with hiking and driving and discovering…that is…until we found out that we would have to quarantine when we arrived.
Finding this information out the night before our departure left us scrambling for a new destination. Somewhere that did not require a quarantine was a bit hard to come by in the height of a pandemic, so we headed south to Florida where restrictions were a bit more loose.
Key West is a quaint island with lots of great restaurants, great nightlife and a ton of great tourist attractions and I have visited on a couple of other occasions. Something stuck out to on this trip as I walked down the stairs of the airplane and across the tarmac to the terminal.
“WELCOME TO THE CONCH REPUBLIC”, read a sign on the terminal.
Hmmm…I didn’t ever remember seeing this sign before and it got me to wondering what this Conch Republic thing was all about. Off to google it…
Apparently, in 1982, the United States Border Patrol was set on the idea that narcotics and illegal immigrants were being brought to the United States through the Florida Keys. A roadblock and inspection point was set up on US 1 and all vehicles were stopped and search.
The Key West City Council complained about the inconvenience for the tourists traveling to and from the Keys and that it was hurting the tourism industry. When repeated complaints continued to go unanswered, the local government decided to take matters into their own hands. If they were going to be treated like a foreign nation with a border, then they were going to become one.
The Mayor, Dennis Wardlow and the city council declared Key West’s independence on April 23, 1982 and took the name of the Conch Republic for the locals who are often referred to as Conchs. Though it was all done as tongue in cheek and not an official succession, Key West’s complaints finally resounded and the roadblocks were removed.
Locals still fondly remember this act of defiance and continue to embrace the name as a tourism booster.
Visitors love visiting Key West, but they love telling everyone, who doesn’t understand, that they were on vacation in the Conch Republic! If you really want to feel like you have visited a new nation, visit the website where you can purchase a Conch Republic passport…bet your traveling buddies don’t have one!
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Key West a.k.a The Conch Republic
- Getting There: Many airlines fly directly to Key West. You can also drive the Overseas Highway from the southern tip of the Florida’s mainland all the way to Key West.
- To purchase a Conch Republic passport, check out the website https://conchrepublic.com/order-passports