Living on Big Pine Key, FL

Big Pine Key is located at 24°41'10" North, 81°21'40" West or about 132 miles south of Miami and 26 miles northeast of Key West. It has a land area of 9.8 square miles with 3153 housing units on the island. Big Pine Key is approximately eight miles long and two and one half miles wide.

The Overseas Highway (US Route 1) enters Big Pine Key at the islands northern end, makes a hard turn north then west and on to Key West. There are only two traffic lights once you leave Marathon Mile Marker 50 to the four lanes on Stock Island at MM 5, just before you enter Key West. Big Pine Key has the first traffic light heading south at MM 29 where Overseas Highway intersects Key Deer Blvd. This intersection is the hub of business in the Lower Keys. The Big Pine shopping center is located there and populated with stores such as Winn Dixie, Beals, several restaurants, the Key Lime Pie Company along with other service businesses. Also near the intersection are several banks, a Walgreens, CVS, bait and tackle stores and the largest flea market in the Keys the Big Pine Key Flea Market just south of the light Oceanside of the highway. This area is where most of the commerce in the Lower Keys takes place. Big Pine has several denominations of churches located mostly on Key Deer Blvd. Also located on the island is the Big Pine Academy, a charter school for 3 years olds through 7th grade.

Big Pine Key is known as the home of the Key Deer, a smaller species of white tail deer. The male or buck grow to stand 30 inches tall at the shoulder and weigh 55-70 pounds, while the females tend to be slightly smaller. Much of the island is under the protection of US Fish and Wildlife Service. The Key Deer Refuge covers proximately 9000 acres on the island.

Big Pine Key offers great boating to both the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico through two main channels, Bogie Channel and Pine Channel. Both offer a controlled depth of approximately 4 feet with some areas slightly less and others slightly more. Looe Key Reef one of the pretties and well know protected areas of the Keys lies about 5 miles to the due south of the island. The Content Keys another well know local's spot on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico is to the north. There are small islands with white sand beaches to explore within a short boat ride of the island. Housing on the island consists of mobile homes starting just under 100K, non-waterfront homes starting at just under 200K, and waterfront and open water homes ranging in price from 200K to 5M on the island.