Summerland Key is an island in the lower Florida Keys approximately 20 miles east of Key West; it contains an unincorporated community of Monroe County of the same name.U.S. 1 crosses the island at approximately mile markers 24—25.5, between Ramrod Key and Cudjoe Key. The name appears on U.S. Coast Survey chart #169 in 1878.Summerland Key is a bedroom community located almost midway between the larger communities of Marathon and Key West.It is home to the Brinton Environmental Center of the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base and is a field station for Mote Marine Laboratory. A private, 2550-foot community airstrip is located just south of the Overseas Highway on West Shore Drive at mile marker 25.Some commercial fishing has occurred on Summerland Key.Beginning in 1948, Henry Hudgins, the father of modern Summerland Key, started developing Summerland from an uninhabited tropical wilderness to an upscale residential neighborhood.