Cudjoe Key lies 23 miles from Key West and is 5.24 square miles in area. 1,555 people live there. Two theories of where the name came from exist. One is the Joewood Tree that is indigenous which is called Cudjoewood in the Bahamas. The other which seems more likely is that it was named after a fugitive slave or free Negro who lived on the key prior to 1849. "Cudjoe" is a West African name.
Approaching Cudjoe Key you will see a white blimp in the sky. The blimp is called a radar aerostat, and is permanently attached by a cable which is on a site established by the Air Force in 1959 to track missiles. Currently the blimp is used to interdict drug smugglers.
Cudjoe Key is pretty laid back, with few commercial establishments. There are a couple of good restaurants one is the Square Grouper on US 1 and Boun Appetito Ristorante located at the Cudjoe Gardens Marina. Cudjoe Key is a great place to live if you love warm weather, boating, fishing and the ocean.
