Photograph of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park — Photograph by Jim Stuby, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Reserve

Built in 1963. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. 6 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1947.

From the record

“John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is a Florida State Park located on Key Largo in Florida. It includes around 70 square nautical miles of adjacent Atlantic Ocean waters.”
Wikipedia article John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 50 National Register listings published here for Monroe County · listed in 1972 · category: Site · built in 1963.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. U.S. 1, Key Largo
When was it listed? April 1972
Category. site
Census division. Upper Keys
When was it built? 1963
National Register reference number. 72000340 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1947 to 1988

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 41 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Reserve, surveyed 1988

Topographic sheet covering John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Reserve, surveyed 1947

Storms near this property

24 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Key Largo, the town this property stands in, in 24 storm reports between 1994 and 2022: 9 waterspout, 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 2 hail. The reports record 20 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
November 1998	Tornado (F2)	Key Largo	20 hurt, $25,000,000	A multivortex tornado touched down just west of U.S. 1 near mile marker 100. The tornado moved north northeast at 30 mph passing across ten housing subdivision, mostly mobile home parks. It damaged about 600 structures, tore down utility lines, damaged vessels and destroyed a great deal of foliage. The tornado crossed to the east of U.S. 1 near the intersection of Highway 905, overturning a semi tractor trailer, and continue north northeast for about six miles damaging house roofs and foliage.
September 2008	Tornado (EF0)	Upper Key Largo	$25,000	Tornado touched down on Atlantic side of U.S. Highway One and moved toward the northwest. The tornado caused minor damage to facia on a business on the bayside of U.S. Highway One, then moved into a residential area. One residence with two broken windows, and another residence had an exterior wall penetrated with a 2x4 carried from over 250 yards away from a home under construction. Several trees and large limbs downed. Estimated maximum wind speed 60 to 70 mph.
June 2022	Flood	Upper Key Largo	$20,000	Localized street flooding was observed in several neighborhoods in the Key Largo through Tavernier areas of the upper Florida Keys. In addition, a few boats on lifts with drain plugs left in were damaged or dropped into local canals due to the weight of accumulated rainfall onboard.
April 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Upper Key Largo	$1,500	Multiple spotters reported several downed tree limbs ranging from 8 to 12 inches in diameter at the intersection of Dolphin and Biscayne Roads in Key Largo.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Key Largo	$1,000	A car dealership assistant manager reported strong winds blew open double glass doors and caused 30 feet of suspended ceiling to collapse. A flag pole with two flags suspended was bent 30 degrees at a bank across the street.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Key Largo	$500	A landscaper reported medium sized tree limbs were blown down in Rock Harbor.
April 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Upper Key Largo	$200	Estimated southwest wind gusts to 45 mph shifted to northwest, gusting to about 60 mph as a line of thunderstorms moved through the Jewfish Creek area of North Key Largo. Filled trash cans were blown across a property with a mailbox destroyed.
June 2007	Hail	Key Largo	-	A landscaper reported 3/4 inch hail in Rock Harbor.
October 2007	Heavy Rain	Upper Key Largo	-	Approximately 10 inches of rain was measured at the Pennekamp State Park rangers quarters ending 09:00 EST on October 1, 2007. Street flooding was observed in the vicinity of the cooperative station.
July 2001	Waterspout	Key Largo	-	Waterspout reported 1 mile E of Key Largo.
August 2001	Waterspout	Upper Key Largo	-	Two large waterspouts observed 1/2 mile southeast of of Upper Key Largo.
March 2000	Waterspout	Key Largo	-	Waterspout was reported 1 mile south of Key Largo
June 2000	Waterspout	Upper Key Largo	-	Waterspout observed 1 mile east of upper Key Largo near Garden Cove area.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Key Largo	-	Gust reported by Molasses Reef C-Man station.
September 1999	Waterspout	Key Largo	-	Waterspout 1 mile north of Key Largo
September 1999	Waterspout	Upper Key Largo	-	Waterspout observed 1 mile east of Card Sound Road.
June 1998	Funnel Cloud	Key Largo	-	Funnel cloud observed 2nm south of Mile Marker 100.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Key Largo	-	Wind sustained 42 gusting to 52 knots at Molasses Reef C-MAN.
February 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Key Largo	-	Recorded at C-MAN MLRF.
February 1994	Hail	Upper Key Largo	-	Three-quarter inch hail was reported.
May 1996	Tornado (F0)	Key Largo	-	no account filed
September 1996	Waterspout	Key Largo	-	no account filed
August 1996	Waterspout	Key Largo	-	no account filed
September 1996	Waterspout	Key Largo	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Monroe County

Maps showing this location

6 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1947 USGS Garden Cove quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1949 USGS Garden Cove quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1956 USGS Miami quadrangle1:250000 - 5 printings
1958 USGS Miami quadrangle1:250000
1982 USGS Homestead quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
1988 USGS Miami quadrangle1:250000

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Carysfort Lighthouse	6.4 miles	1984

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 72000340 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Monroe County	All 50 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.