Dry Tortugas National Park

So what’s the attraction? Crystal-clear water abounding in healthy coral reefs and marine life, for one thing. Vast flocks of seabirds in nesting season, spring and fall, for another.

Most significant, though, is Fort Jefferson, the largest all-masonry fort in the United States. The 19thcentury fortification rises on one of the park’s tiny islands, Garden Key, and stands as an awe-inspiring example of sweeping military architecture. Its history is as unique as its glorious mid-water setting.

Tortugas is Spanish for “turtles.” Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León came upon these specks of land in 1513 as he was sailing around Florida. He named them for the sea turtles found in the gulf. Sailors, including pirates, used the turtles as food and also took huge quantities of eggs from colonies of terns and other birds. The word “dry” was added to the name as a warning to sailors running low on freshwater that they would find none hereabouts.

The United States took control of the Dry Tortugas when it acquired Florida from Spain in 1822. A lighthouse was built on Garden Key, the largest of the islands, in 1825, to guide ships through the maze of reefs and shoals. (A taller lighthouse was constructed on nearby Loggerhead Key in 1858.) In 1846, the U.S. government began construction of a fort on Garden Key, intending it as a base from which to control ships trying to enter the Gulf of Mexico.

The fort was huge, with room for 1,500 soldiers and the capability to withstand a one-year siege. Construction continued through the Civil War until the U.S. Army abandoned the fort in 1874. Though some 16 million bricks had been assembled for its formidable walls, the fort was never officially finished. Despite its eight-foot-thick walls and sheer sweeping proportions, it had been made vulnerable by advances in artillery.

In addition, the structure had settled into the fine sand more than had been expected, and there were fears that adding more bricks and heavy cannons would cause the mammoth structure to sink.

Was all the effort wasted? Not really. Even though its cannons never fired a shot in conflict, its mere presence helped prevent foreign aggression.

During the Civil War and for nearly a decade after, Fort Jefferson served as a military prison. Its most famous prisoner was Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.

Although Mudd said he had no idea who Booth was when he performed the work, he was convicted of conspiracy and sent to the Dry Tortugas in 1865. Mudd was pardoned in 1869, in part because he had saved many lives during an epidemic of yellow fever at the fort in 1867.

Fort Jefferson was used sporadically for other purposes over the ensuing years, including as a refuge to protect nesting birds. In 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Dry Tortugas a national monument, and the area was designated a national park 57 years later. Today the most enthusiastic visitors are history buffs, snorkelers, and bird-watchers.

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