Sugarloaf Key Bat Tower, Historic bat tower in Lower Sugarloaf Key, Florida.
Sugarloaf Key Bat Tower is a wooden structure with multiple chambers designed to house bat colonies for mosquito control. The building demonstrates an early approach to natural pest management through deliberate use of bat populations.
Richter Clyde Perky built this structure in 1929 based on designs by Charles Campbell to reduce mosquito populations in the Lower Keys. It was one of only three towers built to this design and sustained substantial damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017.
The tower symbolizes the resourcefulness of early residents in tackling pest problems and draws local visitors interested in this unconventional approach to dealing with insects.
The tower sits roughly one mile northwest of U.S. Route 1 on Lower Sugarloaf Key and is accessed via Bat Tower Road. Visitors should watch their footing, as ground conditions may be uneven following storm damage.
This building was long one of the last surviving examples of only three structures ever built to this experimental design. This rarity makes it a special record of an almost forgotten pest control method from the twentieth century.
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