Top Secret “Phone Service to Cuba”
Cuban Telegraph Office
Thousands of people pass this building everyday and have NO IDEA what it is! If you’ve been to the Southernmost Buoy than you’ve seen it and passed it too. It sits only 20′ from the buoy (seen below), people stand in line, lean against it and have no clue! I’ve never seen a single person take its photo!
This is the former Telegraph Cable Building for communications between the USA & Cuba. If you look closely at the photo below you can see the portion of the cable that remains from the seabed into the building behind the green door. You have to remember that Cuba was a tourist hot spot for wealthy Americans and Hollywood’s A-List for years. As mentioned in an earlier blog, Key West was also Pan American Airways home base and the site of this countries 1st International flight… and you guessed it, it went to Havana, Cuba! Once relations soured between our two nations the undersea cable was cut severing the first and only land link to Cuba forever! There, you’re now that one-in-a-thousand person who can tell others what it is!
So the next time you’re in Key West and drive by the Buoy just say to yourself “Those people in line don’t have a clue, but I do!” Smile and go on knowing that you now know exactly what that building is and its historical significance as others unfortunately ignore it! You’re no longer only a tourist… you’re now an informed tourist!!!!
