Say Farewell to the Cat

Time is running out on the Smithsonian’s seven-year loan of the Key Marco Cat to Marco Island Historical Museum. After traveling through time and space to return to its birthplace on Marco Island in Southwest Florida, the world-famous Key Marco Cat returns to Washington, D.C. in April 2026.

The Key Marco Cat, half cat/half human wood carving is remarkably well preserved. It is considered by archaeologists throughout the world as one of the finest pieces of pre-Columbian Native American art ever discovered in North America.

The Key Marco Cat is on loan to the Marco Island Historical Society and Museum by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. The enigmatic feline’s seven-year stay at Marco Island Historical Museum is the longest it has been on loan to any other institution. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see the world-famous artifact while it is still on exhibit within the island setting in which it was discovered in 1896.

A Key Marco Cat Farewell Celebration will be held at Marco Island Historical Museum on Thursday, February 12, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. It will feature a presentation by former MIHS curator Austin Bell. Bell will share the story of the quest to bring the Key Marco Cat back to Marco Island, the wave of community support that led to its successful return, and the history of the fascinating artifact.

Bell is the author of four books, The Nine Lives of Florida’s Famous Key Marco Cat, Images of America: Marco Island, Images of Modern America: Marco Island, and Lost and Found: The Adventures of Marco the Cat, a children’s book.

There also will be live music that will transport guests back in time to the era of the Calusa tribe, who lived in Southwest Florida. Emmy Award-winning composer and flutist Kat Epple will play “Calusa-Inspired” instruments, including river cane flute, conch-shell horn, bird-bone flute, and percussion made of seashells, seeds, and wood.

In addition, Carolyn Rosenfeld will reprise her re-enactment of Wells Sawyer, the artist who accompanied the Smithsonian led expedition that discovered the Key Marco Cat. Guests also will have an opportunity to write love letters to the Cat to express how much it meant to have the Key Marco Cat visit its Marco Island home. The letters will accompany the artifact back to the Smithsonian Institution.

At just six inches tall, the Key Marco Cat has captured the public’s imagination for over a century and continues to intrigue all who view it. Carved from native hardwood, the Key Marco Cat was created some 500 to 1,500 years ago by Southwest Florida’s early Calusa people or their Muspa ancestors. The artifact was unearthed during a Smithsonian sponsored archaeological expedition led by archaeologist and anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing.

“The Key Marco Cat from the Smithsonian collections is an extraordinary object that attests to the unique archaeological record of Key Marco and the people and cultures who lived there for millennia,” notes Torben Rick, Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.

Showcased at the Marco Island Historical Museum in the award-winning permanent exhibit Paradise Found: 6,000 Years of People on Marco Island, the priceless object seems to be right at home surrounded by other Marco Island artifacts and displays showing the fascinating history of the island and its peoples. The exhibit features an immersive life-size Calusa village, more than 300 pre-Columbian Native American artifacts from Marco Island and surrounding areas, activity stations, animations, and original artwork depicting the 1896 archaeological dig and lives and ceremonies of the Calusa.

“Bringing home this amazing symbol of our island and the early peoples who populated it was an island-wide effort,” says Pat Rutledge, Marco Island Historical Society CEO. “We raised the funds to build a museum worthy of this irreplaceable artifact. Our members and supporters throughout the community joined with us with passion and financial support to bring this precious object back to its place of origin.

“Since opening in 2010, the Marco Island Historical Museum has welcomed nearly 300,000 visitors eager to explore the island’s rich history. Remarkably, 155,000 of those guests have come since the arrival of the Key Marco Cat, drawn by the opportunity to discover its origins and gain insight into the lives of the ancient people who created it.”