Perky Florida was located on Sugarloaf Key, FL at the end of Sugarloaf Boulevard and US 1. The town of Perky was originally known as the plantation town of Chase when it was formed in the early 20th century. By the 1920s an investor known as Richter Perky bought up the land rights in hopes of turning the town of 500 into a resort town with the coming of highway SR 4a the original Overseas Highway. Perky pushed to have Sugarloaf Boulevard built to connect vehicle traffic to his resort from SR 4a when it was first construction. The town of Perky is known mostly today for its Bat Tower that was constructed in 1929 that remains standing. The Perky Bat Town was supposed to house 1,000 bats that were brought in from New Jersey that would eat the local population of mosquitos. When the bats were first released however they took off and never came back. The Perky Lodge and Resort closed in 1940 two years after the modern Overseas Highway on US 1 was routed within less than a mile from it. Today what is left of Perky is largely part of a community known today as Sugarloaf Shores.

Submitted by: Tom Fearer