With the weather window looking favorable for the next week we decided to sail overnight to the Dry Tortugas. The Tortugas are 70 miles west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico and home to the Dry Tortuga National Park. Please note, there is nothing else there – except the national park. While the park's remoteness may sound intimidating, it is a perfect escape from the congestion of the harbors of the Florida Keys.
The park consists of 7 islands. It was once 22 islands but over time hurricanes have washed away the sands so only 7 islands remain. Fort Jefferson is on the main island of Garden Key. The fort's construction was started in the 1850's with the expectation that it would provide defenses for the US states within in the Gulf of Mexico. After 20ish years, 16 million bricks and $3 million ($500 million in today's dollars), the never completed fort was abandoned as a naval defense largely due to technological and strategic changes in warfare. It was then repurposed as a remote prison outpost. The most infamous of the prisoners was Dr. Mudd - you know - your name is Mudd. He was imprisoned for being a "conspirator" in the Lincoln assasination. What was his crime? He set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth. He was later pardoned, but only after spending several years in captivity in the Tortugas.
The fort (and the Tortugas as a whole) is nothing short of amazing! It's scale is beyond expectation. It is the largest brick structure in the western hemishphere. Once you overcome the grand scale of the fortress you are then awestruck by the sheer amount of labor - with 19th century tools - required to build such a place. It is truly an architectural feat given its scale, remoteness and the period for which it was constructed.
I have well over hundred photos of this amazing place. I initially scaled them back to 40 photos that I wanted to post and then scaled the number, again, back to 5. As you can see I am really struggling to do this amazing location justice through this blog entry. I will try to create a blog photo archive elsewhere on the site to post the remaining photos. We have much more amazing things to share regarding the Dry Tortugas - so stay tuned for more.
The Admiral
3/29/09 - 3/30/09
No comments:
Post a Comment