Lily Lawrence Bow was born in 1870. She was a college educated woman who loved the outdoors and was married to Richard Bow who, it seems, was an alcoholic. Originally from Chicago but having learned that it was possible to make a living growing limes and cotton in the Florida Keys, Bow convinced her husband to move to Cudjoe Key in 1904 with their two sons (14 and 4) and start a new life together. There they purchased 207 acres of hardwood hammock, salt ponds, and lime trees. At that time Cudjoe Key was very desolate and remote. The nearest town was Key West, a 20-mile sailboat ride away. The residents numbered just a few families who scratched out a living by making charcoal. The railroad hadn't been built yet.