John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
State park at Key Largo, Florida, USA / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is a Florida State Park located on Key Largo in Florida. It includes approximately 70 nautical square miles (240 km2) of adjacent Atlantic Ocean waters. The park is approximately 25 miles in length and extends 3 miles into the Atlantic Ocean.[1] It was the first underwater park in the United States. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1972. The primary attractions of the park are the coral reefs (such as Molasses Reef) and their associated marine life.
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John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park | |
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IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area) | |
Location | Monroe County, Florida, U.S. |
Nearest city | Key Largo, Florida |
Coordinates | 25°07′12″N 80°24′18″W |
Area | 53,000 acres (210 km2) |
Established | 1963 |
Visitors | 1,000,000 (in 2004) |
Governing body | Florida Department of Environmental Protection |
In Fiscal Year 2004 the park had more than a million visitors, making it the most popular park in the Florida State Parks system. The Florida Keys and the Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast are the only living coral reef formations in the continental United States.