Sugarloaf Key Bat Tower

The Sugarloaf Key Bat Tower, also known as the Perky Bat Tower, is a historic site in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is located a mile northwest of U.S. Route 1 on Lower Sugarloaf Key at mile marker 17. On May 13, 1982, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The tower was blown down during Hurricane Irma in 2017.^[2]

Bat Tower-Sugarloaf Key
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Historic bat tower on Lower Sugarloaf Key, Florida
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Location	Monroe County, Florida
Nearest city	Key West, Florida
Coordinates	24°38′59.95″N 81°34′21.62″W
Built	1929
NRHP reference No.	82002377[1]
Added to NRHP	May 13, 1982

History

Parade float during Fantasy Fest, depicting the historic bat tower complete with bats and mosquitoes flying around it, October 2008

The tower was built in 1929 by Richter Clyde Perky, a fish lodge owner, to control the mosquito problem in the Lower Keys.^[3] However, when the bats were put in, they supposedly flew away, never to return. The tower was built from plans purchased from a Charles Campbell of Texas, an early pioneer of bat studies. The Hygiostatic Bat Roost, as Campbell called it, was intended to be a roost for bats that would eat the mosquitoes which spread malaria. According to at least some local folklore, the skunk ape was responsible for some early damage to the structure and for driving off some of the bats.^[4]

Today

The tower after Hurricane Irma

Two Campbell bat towers are still standing (out of an original fourteen worldwide) in the United States: one in Comfort, Texas; and one at the Shangri-La Gardens in Orange, Texas. At least one of the Texas towers has been internally reconstructed so that bats currently roost in it. The ruins of a fourth Campbell tower, in Temple Terrace, Florida, burned in 1979 and now consist of the concrete base and legs. Temple Terrace is in the process of rebuilding their 1924 tower. The Sugarloaf Bat Tower was toppled over on September 10, 2017, in the devastating winds of Hurricane Irma. As of October 2017, it had not yet been decided whether it will be repaired or re-erected.^[2]

Cultural references

• The Bat Tower is used as a setting in the Tim Dorsey novel Torpedo Juice.
• Mentioned in the novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
• Mentioned in the novel Gumbo Limbo: An Alex Rutledge Mystery by Tom Corcoran.
• Discussed on the June 1, 2025 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver^[5]