NAME GAME LIKE

THE ISLANDS, LOCAL THOROUGHFARES ALSO HAVE SOME HISTORY

While I consider my specialties to include Indian Key (once upon a time the most important island in the Keys not named Key West) and Black Caesar (the legendary pirate of the Keys), one of the areas of local history I like to play around with is how the islands, communities and their roads came upon their names.

Some of the names have more obvious origin stories than others. For instance, Bahia Honda is the Spanish phrase for deep bay, and the island does boast one of the island chain’s deepest bays. Because of the island’s bahia honda, its iconic bridge was the most challenging of Henry Flagler’s railroad bridges to build.

Key Largo is another obvious choice as the island’s early Spanish name was Cayo Largo, which is fitting as largo means long, and Key Largo is the longest and largest of all the Keys. On the other hand, Crawl Key, in the Middle Keys, was named for a less apparent reason. Back in the days when the local waters were still filled with turtles and people fishing commercially for them, the island was home to turtle crawls where their catch could be corralled before being brought to market.

For those driving up and down the Overseas Highway, one of Crawl Key’s significant features is a road sign identifying Banana Boulevard. Every time I drive between Grassy Key and Curry Hammock State Park and see the Banana Boulevard sign, I smile and don’t know why. I just do. There are scores of other unusually named roads on the islands. However, one of the wildest names and a personal favorite is a narrow road on Key Largo near MM 103 called Transylvania Avenue.

Recently, someone from my group asked if I knew how Transylvania Avenue got its name. The strikingly different identifier is found in an Oceanside community filled with obvious sub-tropical island names like Jewfish Avenue, Snapper Avenue, Kingfish Street and Blue Runner Street. Why the weird name? I will posit three theories addressing the more obvious connotations. Likely, all of them are wildly off base.

First, the person who decided on the name had a familial connection to Romania, Transylvania’s home. Second, they graduated from Transylvania University, which, interestingly enough, is located in Lexington, Kentucky. Transy, as the university is known, is home to the Pioneers. The symbol on their baseball caps is a flying bat, and the university’s podcast is “Flying with the Pioneers.” I’m not sure about the connection between pioneers and bats, but the connection between the little flying mammals and Transylvania is crystal clear.

Of course, there is always the possibility that the avenue was named by a fan of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula,” whose castle was located in Transylvania. The third reason is probably a reach, but is worth noting because there is a kernel of truth in it, whether it was intentional or not.

The rough translation of transylvania is “other side of the woods.” At MM 103, where the avenue is located, a hammock (or woods) separates two residential neighborhoods. The hammock is bordered on one side by Transylvania Avenue, so, technically, it is the first road on the other side of the woods.

Somewhere out there is also what is probably the real reason why that road was given that particular name, and I hope it turns out to be a story with a bit of flair because a choice like that deserves an origin story with a little razzle-dazzle.