Bat Tower

For those curious why I gave 3 stars when I couldn’t see it up close, reason when I visited the place in Oct 2015 the tides were so high most roads were flooded (it was the King Tide). I could of walked to it but had shoes on plus was on Harley so just not worth getting wet as I had nothing to dry my feet off with. I appreciate the idea and reason behind the Bat Tower just because I couldn’t get up close doesn’t change the beauty and concept of the Bat Tower. Thanks for reading!!!

Really? This tower is listed in the National Register of Historical Places? Well there’s no Batman here, just an old tower located about 16~17 miles away from Key West.
This run-​down tower was erected on a dead-​end road and I didn’t spot any bats. It was somewhat of a letdown and I wouldn’t recommend anyone making a side trip to this site unless you are really bored and have plenty of time to kill.
The good? It is free to see the tower and it will only take you less than 3 minutes to see what you need to see. Few random facts:
* The tower was built in 1929 in order to control the mosquito via bats. Well the plan ended up in failure and all bats flew away.
* There’s a giant osprey nest on top of the tower (hence two-​star instead of one-​star).
* The original designer (Dr. Charles Campbell) built 14 Bat Towers and this is one of the three towers (this tower, one in Comfort, Texas, and one at the Shangri-​La Gardens in Orange, Texas) that’s still standing to this date.
The pin-​mark listed on Unilocal is correct and just make a turn onto this shady road called «Bat Tower Road».

Being the type of person who enjoys the rare things in life (and perhaps that is due to my own oddity), I like to find attractions and stops that few folks know about, or few folks would be interested in. Nevermind the novelty factor, but this is also a great way of avoiding huge tourist traps that will undoubtedly be overcrowded. I rely on
to find all the interesting things worth checking out wherever I plan to go, and when performing a search for the Florida keys, I saw this bat tower.
Huh? We have bats in Florida? And what is a bat tower anyway? I bet these are all questions that you’re asking yourself, as did I. Well, it so happens that at one time, the Florida keys was known to be a mosquito-​swarmed area. Mosquitoes are known to carry malaria, dengue, and yellow fever — not to mention they are an itchy annoyance! A twentieth-​century entomologist caught a terrifying – and record-​breaking –«365,696 mosquitoes in one trap in one night» on an island just off the tip of the Florida peninsula, according to Michael Grunwald’s book, The Swamp.
The solution to combat the pesky bugs was developed in 1929, by a fish lodge owner named Richter Clyde Perky (hence the official name of «Perky’s Bat Tower» although it is also known as the «Sugarloaf Key Bat Tower»). The mosquitoes were an impediment to his fishing resort, and a general nuisance. He purchased the plans from a bat studies pioneer in Texas named Charles Campbell, and spent $ 10,000 in constructing this structure. «If it works for him, it will work for me, and I will be the hero of the keys for getting rid of the mosquitoes,» he probably thought to himself. The construction was quite remarkable, considering that at more than thirty feet tall, it has withstood dozens of hurricanes and still features the bat entrance, the central guano removal chute, and the cypress wood corrugation meant to function as roosting shelves.
Alas, while the bat tower plan worked in Texas, it did not work in Florida. When the bats were put into the newly-​constructed Hygiostatic Bat Roost, they flew away and were never again seen. Even pheromone-​doused guano as bait could not lure them back. Although this type of nocturnal winged creature is long gone, there is now a new type of winged creature calling the tower home: osprey birds. They are active and have been active for at least a couple of years, when sightings were starting to be reported. This alone, combined with the fact that it’s free to come here, makes it a 5-​star attraction in my view.
Believe it or not, the tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, as this is one of three Campbell towers still standing out of an original fourteen worldwide.
If you’d like to check it out, look for the large sign advertising sky diving almost immediately after mile marker 17 while heading south, and turn right. Take that unnamed road right behind the sign, stay on the road about ½ mile and you will see the tower. The surrounding area is dry during the dry season (fall and winter), and the road will be wet during the wet season (summer), giving the illusion of the tower being immersed in water. Make sure to look up at the nest at the top of the tower, back away from the tower so you can have a better view, and see if you can spot the head of an osprey peeking out from the nest. For birders especially, this is a must-​see while heading down to Key West,

This stop may not be everyone’s cup of tea, however for me, as a fanatic of history and all things strange… it was a treat to see! It is a great place to pull over and make a stretch stop for the final stretch going to Key West.
We had a slight confusion as which road to take after taking that right onto Bat Tower Road. –Stay on the right as the road will diverge into 2 lanes and the tower is hidden behind some trees and what not. The road that goes left goes into some kind of dead end weirdness.
Thumbs up to the other Unilocalers for having revealed this strange unknown structure that won’t be in your Key West guide books.

Supposedly it’s a historical landmark… really?
Supposedly it was supposed to solve our mosquito problem… seriously?
Supposedly it’s a must see icon of the lower keys… huh?
Here’s the real deal…
For most visitors, it’s like visiting Mount Rushmore. You expect to be blown away and once you arrive you wonder if there’s more to it… Nope, this is it.
And here’s the basics… this large wooden structure created to house bats. The property owner back in 1929 built this structure to house bats that were supposed to help control the mosquito problem. The bats were imported to their new home but decided to ditch the new pad and head elsewhere (perhaps the salt air or lack of natural habitat); leaving the neighboring fishing camp (Sugarloaf Lodge) to find other options to deal with the annoying malaria carrying blood sucking vampire insects.
I’m not most visitors, so for whatever reason I really enjoy passing by here whenever I go for a walk or bike ride.
Quite honestly I question myself why I stop by so often; it’s located along a beaten up asphalt roadway, bordered by overgrown trees and out of control weeds, with areas scattered with trash and abandoned appliances, possibly remains of a boat or two and car (s) that are beyond repair, just rotting away.
There is no sign letting passing traffic on the overseas highway know it exists and there are no manicured gardens, but what is does have it charm and a real history. It’s an icon to remember an experiment gone bad, but it’s stuff like this that make the keys so remarkable and sometimes a bit unusual.

Beware that the road looks like an alley and that there are not any big signs on HW1. But this is nice to see, and only a 5 minute detour on your way to Key West. I didn’t see any sort of sign or explanation at the actual site, so you should go and read what it is on Wikipedia. But it is interesting to see and a good reminder of how the Keys used to be fairly uninhabitable… not very long ago.

Go a little batty at the Bat Tower — MM 17 bayside, Sugarloaf Key, on the way to Sugarloaf Airport. Visit one of the most unusual structures in the world: Perky’s Bat Tower. Built in 1929 by a developer to house bats that were supposed to eat all the mosquitoes in the area, the Bat Tower stands as a monument to a quirky idea that failed — because the bats refused to cooperate and all flew away. Today, Perky’s Bat Tower is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.