Driving South on Route 1 towards Key West over 30 years ago, I noticed a small tree growing out of nowhere on an old Flagler railroad trestle.

Today that little tree now stands over twenty feet tall,  swaying in the seabreeze between mile marker 41 and 42 in the lower Keys is Fred the Tree, an Australian pine bursting through the pavement.

When people drive by Fred,  they wave and holler his name, hanging out of the sunroof to get a picture.

Fred’s ability to sustain growth on the 7 Mile Bridge and survive Florida hurricanes has made him a symbol of hope for local residents.

A group of local elves even light him up for the holidays.

Fred has become a real life natural phenomenon and tourist attraction.

The commonly held belief by the locals is that Fred first sprouted many years ago from bird droppings.

The infrastructure of the original bridge that support the old 7 Mile Bridge were filled with sand, this provided enough organic matter to which Fred could plant his deep roots and flourish to the force of nature he is today.

Part of the fascination with Fred is the mystery surrounding his origin story.

Fred is an Australian pine tree which was introduced to Florida in the 1890s to provide lumber and shade.   This species was later deemed an invasive threat due to its rapid growth rate and was subsequently outlawed in Florida.

Although 90% of the new Roadhouse movie was shot in the Dominican Republic for tax incentives, the film is located in Glass Key,  a fictional town in the Florida Keys that is just south of Marathon, Florida.

At the beginning of the film, Gyllenhaal’s character, Dalton arrives by Greyhound and is greeted by a teenage girl named Charlie who runs a bookstore with her father.

Charlie asks Dalton if he saw “Fred on his way in”, explaining that Fred is “the tree on the bridge, not the main bridge but the old one beside it the historic seven mile bridge”.

Charlie then informs Dalton that Fred the tree “grows right in the middle of the road”  on a inaccessible part of the old bridge and that he “just kinda popped out of nowhere”.

Charlie proceeds to give Dalton a book “full of local color” in which he learns about Fred.

A lonely tree sitting out in the middle of a bridge becomes a metaphor for the main character.

There is Fred’s book featured in the film, but he also has a couple of music videos.

Of course you don’t want to miss Fred when you’re traveling to the Keys along Route 1, so keep your eyes open.