Posted on 03/13/2018 7:38:09 PM PDT by Voption
On a remote island hours away from Key West lies the largest masonry structure in the Americas: Fort Jefferson. Built with 16 million bricks, but never finished, the fort served as a prison during Civil War. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, upon visiting the island, named it a National Monument, and in 1992 it became part of Dry Tortugas National Park. Besides serving as a safe haven for the most preserved coral reef in the United States, the set of islands that comprise the national park also protect countless marine animals and bird species. However, the true treasure of this amazing place was noted by one of its most famous prisoners, Dr. Samuel Mudd, who once said that the the only escape from the hell of this prison was gazing at the night skies. Today, Dry Tortugas National Park is the darkest spot on USA's East Coast.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
The brick forts up and down the east coast were part of an expensive building program for national defense.
Unfortunately the advent of rifled cannon made them all obsolete almost overnight.
Pretty cool!
The history is amazing! I’ve been to Key West many times, but never made the trip to the Tortugas.
It’s on my List. (I did a Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Portland Oregon, Empire Builder train Adventure last Fall, possibly make it to florida next fall sometime.)
anyway...
—They had Hurricane damage last year, but the Ferry & plane-service were back up pretty fast. Portions of the brick-work have been re-habbed, but they lost foliage. And.. gained some derelict small boat-wrecks. There is pre/post hurricane Tortuga video at youtube.
Nice. I live in one of the darkest spots in the West, along the California/Nevada border. It is really dark here at night and we can see the Milky Way and what seems like billions of stars.
I visited there back in 2005. About a 3-hour boat ride west of Key West (one-way).
Beautiful, intact fort and Caribbean-blue waters.
I aim to please!
My goal is to only post high-quality YouTube video!
This was part of some non-profit Project, but I don’t know if they produced videos of other National Parks.
-It’s a brilliant place for a Sea Fort, during the time of sea travel.
I’m not too fond of ocean-travel, but I’ll willing to take the ferry.... it’s like a 2 & 1/2 hour ride.
(or, more ominously.... “A 3 Hour Tour...” HA... “the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed....”)
But seriously, you can camp their, but if the weather gets bad... you can’t easily leave...
that aside... I would camp for a night. ya have to carry everything you need however, it’s “dry” Tortuga, ‘cuz there’s no fresh-water to drink.
BTTT
Do you mean Mackinac Island?
.
.
That was amazing. Thank you for sharing.
Nice...would be a great place to camp for a night and do stargazing.
Gorgeous! Thanks for posting that.
Do a time lapse vid & put it up on YouTube !
We took 16 of my closest friends (Boy Scouts) there in June of 2001. Stayed 5 days and that was too long, 3 would have been plenty. While they say it is dry and you are supposed to pack in all of your supplies with water being the biggie, there is actually an accessible faucet inside the fort and we got about 20 gallons a day from it with no complaints from staff. Great visibility for snorkeling. Lots of fish, many barracuda and a few sharks. I’d go back for a couple days.
Same-same rural NW SC.
Best.
You are correct.
That’s just an artifact of not writing the way I speak.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/mackinaw
Learn the Michigan Accent
https://youtu.be/eU8iDAsW1lk
Take the seaplane.
Looks beautiful. Nice!
I never went there; just stopped at Key West.
Very Cool!
Thanks for the tip on water!
5 days would be too long to camp—I’m thinking of just an overnight. (I’m 60, my ‘roughing it’ days, are almost over.)
—I really want to hang out at the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island, but it’s like’ $1,100/night for the cheap-rooms.
Actually, I’d prefer a helicopter!
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