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| Key West |
We moved further down the keys to mile marker 20, Sugarloaf Key, to be closer to Key West, where we wanted to explore and be able to take the day trip to Fort Jefferson. We are staying at Lazy Lakes RV park, which pretty much describes the place. It has two manmade lakes, probably the result of quarrying for limestone, and most of the trailers here are permanent indicating to me that the folks live here year round. It is not close to anything, the nearest stores being in Key West 20 miles away, but there is a funky old restaurant, Mangrove Mary’s, across the highway. (great seafood)
We spent a day in Key West, where I got to visit Mel Fisher’s museum. Mel was the treasure hunter who found the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a Spanish galleon, in 1985 with millions in treasure off Key West. The State of Florida sued him for possession of the entire treasure locking up the booty for seven years in the county jail, while Fisher sued for his right of possession all the way to the Supreme Court. (He won) His family is still recovering sunken treasure from this and other wrecks off of Key West. His favorite quote “Today’s the Day” It took him 16 years to find the Atocha.
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| Harry relaxing in Key West |
My other Key West visit was to Truman’s Little White House. Until 1974 the Navy operated a submarine base right in downtown Key West. On that base was the commandant’s quarters, which President Truman visited at the invitation of Admiral Nimitz. The base was between commanders and the house was empty. Truman loved the place so much for its peace and tranquility, that he visited the place many times during his presidency.
The building is now a Florida state park, and the base itself was sold to an Indian (India indian) real estate developer from Boston. At any rate the house has been restored to the condition it was in with all the furnishings it had when Truman stayed there. It is a tribute to a courageous president who made some very tough calls during difficult times. The “Little White House” was also used briefly by JFK during the Cuban Missile crisis and other presidents for R &R. Even though it is a state park now, and not a federal facility, if you are a former president, you can make a reservation.
Our primary reason to stay close to Key West was to be able to take the day trip to Fort Jefferson. The trip starts at 7:00am at the dock, and ends later the same day at 5:30pm. Fort Jefferson is located 70 miles west of Key West and you get there by a high speed ferry or by seaplane. We opted for the ferry, which takes two and one half hours to get there. The ferry is two hulled catamaran and goes along at 26 knots. While the trip was somewhat bumpy, no one got seasick as the seas were pretty smooth.
Fort Jefferson is pretty much in the middle of nowhere on a spit of sand not much larger than the fort itself. It was started in 1846 on the site of a light house that was built in 1825. While it is located in an area of treacherous reefs and sand bars, but it also has a couple of areas where ships could anchor and be protected from perilous seas. The fort was built so no other nation could use the location as a staging area for a naval assault against gulf shipping or attack on land. It is the largest brick structure in the western hemisphere. It has over 16 million bricks, so heavy that it began to sink into the ocean even in its early stages of construction. They built on it for 30 years and never finished it. There are gaping holes in the walls that were never bricked up, the walls being 8ft thick, it takes a lot of bricks to fill in the gaps. It was intended to house 410 cannons, with a range of 3miles to discourage a naval attack. In actuality, the fort has never been attacked and was declared obsolete as a military facility in the 1880s.
Its primary use became that of a military prison. Soldiers, tried as deserters, were imprisoned here to be used as laborers to build the fort. The most notable prisoners were the Lincoln conspirators including Dr Samuel Mudd, the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth’s leg after Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln. He and the other conspirators were pardoned in 1869 by Andrew Jackson.
Today Fort Jefferson is a national park and a wildlife sanctuary. The park is 48 square miles, 99% underwater. What little land there is (other than the fort) is dedicated to the birds and the turtles that lay their eggs in the sand. The fish are protected as well as there is no fishing permitted in the park which is marked with boundary buoys and patrolled by heavily armed park rangers. (Why do park rangers carry side arms, tassers, mace and billy clubs, to manage a bunch of senior citizen tourists on a day trip to a wildlife sanctuary?)
We took the guided tour of the fort walking over the three storied fort exposing ourselves to some very nasty, most definitely fatal falls should you lose your footing near the edge of the building. This place most resembles a deteriorating building site with no OSHA oversight. They are not kidding when they warn about “crumbling bricks.” We were going swim in the lagoon as it was advertized as a great place to snorkel and see lots of fish, but the reports of those who did snorkel there wasn’t much to see. There are no facilities for tourists on the island like water, rest rooms and the like, (those things are provided on the ferry) it seemed too much of a hassle to get wet for the sake of a swim, to have to sit around in wet bathing suits and have sticky, salty skin for the 2 hour ride back to Key West.
All in all we were glad we went. It is a colossal building in the middle of nowhere with some interesting history. We saw lots of birds in their nesting area and few fish. The boat ride while a bit long, was smooth enough so we didn’t get seasick. It is truly at the “end of the road,” where not all that many get a chance (or have the desire) to visit.
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| Unfinished section of wall |
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