Islamorada, Village of Islands City Map Poster

About Islamorada, Village of Islands

The village is part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Key West, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,929 at the 2010 census. The name "Islas Morada" (Spanish for "purple islands") refers to a purple haze that sometimes appears over the islands in late afternoon when viewed from Key West or Biscayne Bay. The term also applies to a group of mangrove keys just north of Lower Matecumbe Key and Tea Table Key known as Purple Island Bank; it is not used by local residents for Isla de la Pinta ("Pinta Island"), which lies between Upper Matecumbe and Windley Keys.[3] It has been suggested that this may be due to confusion with another island called Palma Rubia ("blonde palm tree") located off Old Rhodes Point on Plantation Key.[4] A map published in 1856 shows an unnamed island near where Palma Rubia would later appear on maps,[5][6] but no evidence exists linking these two names together.