The Garden club’s 1955 Flower Show at East Martello. Photo by Don Pinder.

Sail into Historic Exploration with Key West Art & Historical Society, SV Argo Navis and Key West Garden Club Historian Lynne Bentley-Kemp

February 6, 2023 – (KEY WEST, FL).  On Saturday, February 11, launching at 9:00 a.m., noted professor of photography and humanities Lynne Bentley-Kemp will lead the next in a series of monthly historically informative two-hour seafaring excursions presented by Key West Art & Historical Society in partnership with S/V Argo Navis.

Passengers aboard the luxury catamaran Argo Navis will enjoy bloody marys, mimosas or non-alcoholic beverages and light breakfast fare while Bentley-Kemp shares the illuminating back-story on the day’s topic, “History of the Key West Garden Club at the West Martello Tower.”  Bentley-Kemp, a longtime Florida Keys resident, taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Florida Atlantic University and the College of the Florida Keys.  She is a dedicated gardener and joined the Key West Garden Club twenty-five years ago.  A Board member for the past eight years, she curates the Club’s social media pages and is currently creating a history room at the Martello.  She takes a great deal of pleasure in seeing a fort evolve into a beautiful garden.

Construction on Fort West Martello began during the Civil War and was abandoned after 1866.  In 1949, Monroe County Commissioner Joe Allen and the Key West Garden Club entered into an agreement to make the tower the Garden Club’s permanent home.  The West Martello Tower is listed as a National Historic Site by the State of Florida and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Historic Seaport Sails are limited to 50 attendees; reserve your spot now at kwahs.org/upcoming-events – $75 for KWAHS members, $90 for non-members.  This project is sponsored in part by the Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and the State of Florida, with additional support provided by The Helmerich Trust and S/V Argo Navis.

For more information, contact Cori Convertito at 305-295-6616 x112 or [email protected].  Your Museums.  Your Community.  It takes an Island.

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