Museum Remains Closed Due to Pandemic

While Keys History & Discovery Center is temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you can still connect with the Discovery Center. Tune in to the Keys History & Discovery Center Facebook page on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m., as Curator Brad Bertelli hosts Facebook Live segments focusing on different exhibits and artifacts from the Center’s collections. Additionally, on Mondays at 1 p.m., Mote Marine Laboratory’s Aquarium Biologist Blake Terry will host a segment on our aquarium exhibits, which will include feeding our fish and crustaceans. Bertelli will also continue to post daily history lessons to our Facebook page.

The Keys History & Discovery Center Presents…lecture series also will go virtual on its regularly scheduled dates and will be hosted through the GoToWebinar platform. GoToWebinar can be accessed on your computer or through their mobile app, and has features allowing viewers to interact with the speaker and participate in a Q&A session at the end of the presentation just like you would if attending in person. Information on registering to attend virtually will be e-mailed prior to each lecture and posted to www.keysdiscovery.com.

Bertelli will be presenting Capt. Ed and Fern Butters: A Love, Hurricane, Key Lime Pie Story for the scheduled Wednesday, April 1 lecture at 6 p.m., yet the topic is different than planned. “Our previously scheduled speakers for Historic Tavernier: A Conversation with Two Pioneers, are both 92 years old and are self-quarantining in an abundance of caution, but we plan to bring this lecture to you at a later date when it is safe for them to participate,” said Executive Director Jill Miranda Baker.   

Additional lectures scheduled include:

Wednesday, April 15, 6 p.m. Florida Soul: Music & People That Define Florida Soul with Author John Capouya.

Wednesday, April 29: 6 p.m. Death at Indian Key: An Unusual Indian Attack with Bertelli.

Wednesday, May 13: 6 p.m. Environmental Threats to Florida’s Iconic Crustaceans with Dr. Phil Gravinese, Mote Marine Laboratory.

Another alternative to learning more about the local history is available through our virtual narrated walking tours, Historic Islamorada and Walk Indian Key, available through a free app, Florida Stories, at the Google Play Store or iStore. Not only can you experience our tours created by Bertelli from the comfort of your own home, but you can access Florida Stories tours for many other historic areas of our state like St. Augustine, Tarpon Springs and Key West.