Key Lime Pie with Brown Butter Graham Crust & Dry Tortugas NP

Ubiquitous to the Florida Keys, Key lime is found in everything imaginable in the Key West area…cocktails, donuts, french toast, salad dressings, cookies, salsas and so on. But the most synonymous star of the Key lime show is the Key Lime Pie.

On nearly every street corner, in shops with familiar sounding names, slices of and whole limey pies are available to buy and enjoy on the spot. Free-range roosters will gladly help you out with any crumbs you toss their way. (Clearly we’ve eaten our share and rated the competition. LOL!)

A destination that’s off the beaten tourist path and pie shops is Dry Tortugas National Park. Covering a total of about 100-square miles of open water and seven coral reef islands, Dry Tortugas sits 70 miles west of Key West. It’s a remote location accessible only by private boat, commercial ferry, or seaplane. The Yankee Freedom ferry line is one official way to visit the Park, complete with a 4-1/2 to 5 hours round-trip ride. Early morning views of sailboats and catamarans waking up at the seaport are spectacular. The ferry ride is industrially comfortable, albeit crowded in the Spring Break months. After a day of snorkeling, sun and sand, our cheeseburger connoisseur gladly bought a burger on the return ride to the harbor.

If a faster ride to Dry Tortugas is your goal, a window seat on a seaplane with Seaplane Adventures is the best option. The travel time is about 40 minutes each way. Our friendly pilot pointed out different natural and man-made features throughout the flight, including Ballast Key a privately owned mangrove island where James Bond made a 1989 cameo in License to Kill. Shipwrecks and treasure hunting platforms like Mel Fisher’s Artubus dot the ocean floor. Sharks and sea turtles are frequently seen from the air.

Landing on open water in a seaplane is definitely an experience. Fort Jefferson appears out of nowhere and seems to float on top of the water.

Known to mariners since 1513, Dry Tortugas was originally named “Las Tortugas” by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. The abundance of sea turtles in this area provided much needed sustenance for the sea-going voyagers. Later on, “Dry Tortugas” became its moniker due to the lack of fresh water here.

Once safely standing on Garden Key, visitors can opt to take a self-guided or ranger-led tour of Fort Jefferson, the largest 19th Century fort of its time. Planned since 1822 and initially constructed in 1847, Fort Jefferson was strategically built to stand watch over the 75-mile wide shipping channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Keys. During wartimes, battleships harbored near Fort Jefferson and were readily deployed to areas along the Gulf Coast. In addition to its military duties, Fort Jefferson and the Dry Tortugas offered refuge and respite to commercial vessels as needed.

During the Civil War, Fort Jefferson was occupied by the Union Army, serving as both a military outpost and a prisoner of war location. Construction continued through 1861 to 1865 with the fort never coming to completion. Although the fort never saw action, it was designed to be fully efficient. In the fort’s central area, soldier barracks and officers quarters stood. Fruit trees and parade grounds sat among these buildings. The brick outer walls and corridors of the fort housed various areas including offices, a bakery, prisoner cells, and iconic open-air arched casemates where cannons once sat. A total of about 2,500 prisoners served time in this secluded penitentiary.

By 1865, the fort’s population numbered 1,013 people…486 soldiers and civilians; and 527 prisoners. One of the most notable Federal prisoners here was Dr. Samuel Mudd. Originally from Maryland, Dr. Mudd was a physician on the Washington D.C. outskirts. In the early morning hours of April 15, 1865, after assassinating President Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth and two of his conspirators visited Dr. Mudd’s home. Booth paid Mudd $25 for his services, which included setting his broken leg, providing handmade crutches and a bed. Ultimately, Mudd was tried and convicted for conspiring to kill President Lincoln for helping Booth and not immediately reporting Booth to the authorities. (It’s unknown whether or not Mudd fully knew if Booth killed Lincoln at the time of his treatment, but acknowledged he knew Booth prior to the assassination.) Mudd was given a life sentence on June 29th, nearly escaping the hangman’s noose by 1 jury vote.

Housed with civilian thieves and U.S. Army deserters (mainly privates), Mudd began his life-sentence at Fort Jefferson. In September 1865, Mudd attempted to escape onboard the transport ship Thomas A. Scott. He was found and subsequently spent 3 months in leg shackles sitting in the fort’s “dungeon.” The dungeon was a dank, dark empty gun and ammunitions storeroom. Mudd returned to the general prison population, but lost his privilege working in the fort’s hospital and was reassigned to the carpentry shop. To spite his failed escape, Mudd’s cell on Fort Jefferson was conveniently and intentionally located above the fort’s Sally Port (aka entrance) where he could view the incoming and outgoing traffic. Other than stories, not much remains from Mudd’s imprisonment other than the carved channels Mudd and another prisoner created in their cell floors to collect rainwater for drinking.

To store drinking water on Dry Tortugas, the U.S. Army used wooden barrels. Unfortunately, these barrels also housed and bred mosquitoes. In the fall of 1867, a Yellow Fever epidemic caused by the mosquitoes affected 270 soldiers and civilians at Fort Jefferson, including the fort’s physician Dr. O’Laughlin. O’Laughlin succumbed to the illness in September, leaving the fort without a doctor. Dr. Mudd agreed to serve in this position and successfully treated the sick men. He instituted the end of quarantining ill patients on nearby islands, demanded clean bedding and better hygiene practices, and used herbal remedies to purge the illness. Of the 270 sick patients, only 38 died. One of Dr. Mudd’s patients, along with 299 other officers and soldiers, petitioned President Andrew Jackson to pardon Dr. Mudd. President Jackson granted the pardon in 1869. Mudd returned to Maryland to spend his remaining days with his family, dying of pneumonia in 1883.

In addition to learning about Fort Jefferson history, visitors travel daily in limited numbes to birdwatch, snorkel in its pristine waters, and camp overnight. We thoroughly enjoyed the snorkeling and sea views!

Although we can’t get to Key West at the drop of a hat, this Key Lime Pie with Brown Butter Graham Crust can be made any time of the year. The most challenging part of making this recipe is browning the butter to a golden brown and not burning it. You’ll want to include all of those browned bits in the bottom of the pan! The nuttiness brown butter adds to the traditional graham cracker crust plays deliciously with the sweet-tart of the Key lime filling. If you want to increase the pucker factor in your pie, Kermit’s Key Lime oil adds an extra optional oomph. Either way you slice it, Key lime and a visit to the Florida Keys is always a great adventure!