But anyone who diverts from the main road and travels over the Conch Key "Circle Route" will soon discover that the little island is a pleasant place cluttered with small fragments of history.

And nestled among the homes in the Conch Key residential area is a sure bet to catch the eye. The home was constructed mainly of coral rock and was hand-built by a semi-famous Conch Key resident named Howard Hodgeman.

Hodgeman is alive and presumably well in Colorado. It has been two years since Hodgeman and his rock house parted ways, but the unique house remains almost unchanged.

Hodgeman's house started in the 1940s as a trailer park office. After Hurricane Donna in 1960, Hodgeman had the old building moved to present site where he began expanding, using a collection of stone and rock.

Whenever Hodgeman traveled out of the Keys he brought back large stones. In his yard on West Conch Lane, stones and rocks were piled high, awaiting the touch of Hodgeman's hands that were roughened by years as a commercial fisherman and coral rock collector in the Florida Keys.

According to the current owner, Sandy Lobaugh, Hodgeman began construction on his rock home about 1960. It was essentially completed in 1963, although Hodgeman added to his mini-estate for some two years more.

Lobaugh, who hails from Ohio, purchased the house in 1994 after Hodgeman, a native of Illinois, left the Keys permanently. While Lobaugh had often eyed the house enviously, she never expected to own it. When she got word that it was for sale she jumped. Lobaugh finally met Hodgeman in May 1994, the day Hodgeman was leaving for his new home in Rifle, Colorado.

Lobaugh was drawn to the house during a layover she made at Conch Key in 1993 while living aboard her own sailboat. She was immediately aware of the "uniqueness" of the layout and the "extensive use of local materials." She said that Conch Key "is not the prettiest place I have ever lived," but she admitted to wanting her own island to live on and she feels she has come as close to that as she can.

To wander through the Hodgeman/Lobaugh complex is to walk a roller coaster route. There are rises and dips, cobbles and groves, grottoes and bridges. The Hodgeman/Lobaugh home is cradled within a handmade stone wall representative of the treasures it protects.

The grounds are crowded with plush foliage including an assortment of huge, old trees, a 50-year-old sea grape tree, poinciana, hibiscus, banana trees and philodendron

Lobaugh says, "once I am inside that gate, I'm in another world and all cares are left outside."

In addition to the main house, a separate guest unit sits high above the footpaths and bridges that help give Hodgeman's house its style. The guest house once served as an aviary for Hodgeman's pigeons.

Hodgeman also collected vintage bottles which he turned into decorative windows and wall displays. He collected stained glass windows from buildings being demolished and used them, too. Hodgeman also collected canons and anchors and other relics from the sea and the house boasts a genuine spiral staircase from an old steamboat

Hodgeman moved to Conch Key from Evanston, Ill. in 1958. His original home was done in by Hurricane Donna in 1960, an event which led the start of his coral rock digs that same year. The house was used as a hurricane shelter in 1965 when Hurricane Betsy roared across the Middle Keys. Its sturdy construction kept the islanders safe if not altogether dry.

Hodgeman started out on Conch Key as a long line fisherman and put in many years of toil on the seas. Hodgeman's former fishing boat is still berthed at a Conch Key marina.