KEY WEST, Fla. — Restoration has been completed on Key West’s Southernmost Point marker, one of the most photographed landmarks in the Florida Keys, following damage from a fire intentionally set early New Year’s Day.
City public works staff finished repainting the marker Thursday night. It designates the southernmost land point in the continental United States, a replica of a marine navigational buoy with red, yellow, black and white stripes.
Key West police have announced charges against two men suspected of torching a Christmas tree next to the landmark buoy. The Fox affiliate in Orlando cites police identifying 21-year-old David B. Perkins, Jr. of Leesburg, and 21-year-old Skylar Rae Jacobson of Henrietta, TX as suspects in the case.
Both face charges of criminal mischief.
The 20-ton concrete monument, installed beside the Atlantic Ocean in 1983, bears lettering that proclaims it stands just 90 miles from Cuba.
