Fort Zachary Taylor and Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas

Early next morning ......  errrr  ... make that NOT early next morning!! ... we got up, got dressed and
found our way to the very tip of Key West  (we're talking about where the water meets the edge of the road)  - at the very border of the city - and of the U. S. - and found a wonderful restaurant - Blue Heaven - for breakfast.  We were planning to do a number of things today - including visiting Fort Zachary Taylor and - participating in a "Sunset Celebration" down at Mallory Square but first, we had to get ourselves waked up and figure out our itinerary.  After breakfast, as we strolled back to the car - feeling remarkably close to normal after the previous night's harrowing experience on Duvall Street - and walked to the waters edge to commemorate the fact that we were at the very end of the U. S.!!!  Just to put things in perspective, from here (water's edge) to Hemingway's home (the highest point around) the elevation rises to a precipitous .... 14 feet!!!  Hmmm...  Anyway .. all that set us to thinking about the huge impact tourism has on Key West and what it would be like if something happened to that aspect of life here.  Well --- as it turns out, they had

Key West International Airport

Marjorie and Robert

a chance to find out!!!  Back in 1982 - based on a strange agreement with President Jimmy Carter - Cuban Premier Fidel Castro decided that since so many people seemed to want to go to the United States - he would help them out. (In addition to the fact that the Cuban economy was in the midst of a major recession.)  He emptied the mental institutions and prisons and put thousands of people of every conceivable background into small boats and sent them northward from the Mariel Harbor to the U. S.  in what would come to be known as the "Mariel Boatlift."  Of course, when the refugees arrived in the U. S. - and it came to be known that many were prisoners or mental patients, anxiety began to rise.  Consequently, the U. S. Border Patrol decided to limit the influx of people and as a part of their strategy put roadblocks up on the "Overseas Highway" from Miami to Key west.  The disruption in tourism was devastating.  Consequently, the mayor of Key West announced that if that's they way they were going to be treated, they would secede from the Union and form their own country - "The Conch Republic."  All this was, of course, only "tongue-in-cheek"

Fort Zachary Taylor

but it did add to the tourism options and now, every April 23rd they celebrate "Independence Day" in Key West ... er .. The Conch Republic!!!  Anyway - as we mentioned before, one of our primary objectives today was to be a visit to Fort Zachary Taylor.  Construction began on the fort in 1845 - as part of the nations plan to defend the coastline of the U. S. - and continued until 1866.  In 1850, when President Zachary Taylor died in office the decision was made to name the fort after him.   The fort has had an interesting history and has served as both an army and navy facility.  Now, however, it is a Florida State Park and a National Historic Site and one of the most popular "beach" areas around Key West.  It is accessible by land and, for that reason, has had widely varied uses throughout its history.  A section of the fort was used by President Truman as his "Southern Retreat" during the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Fort Taylor seemed a little tame for our "adventurous souls" and we learned that there was another fort we could visit and it offered a more exciting excursion - so after conferring with our new found friends, Marjorie and Robert, we jumped at the chance to go to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Torgugas.  We packed up for a much longer adventure and boarded the ferry for the 70 mile cruise.  We eventually learned that Fort Jefferson also had a very unusual history and one that paralleled that of Fort Zachary Taylor in many ways.  Begun in 1846, the year after Fort Taylor, Fort Jefferson would come to be the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere, ultimately consisting of over sixteen million bricks.  The fort is located in

Fort Jefferson

the "Dry Tortugas" a series of low islands about 70 miles west of Key West and a very unusual feature of the area.  First described by the adventurer Ponce de Leon in 1513, the importance of the Dry Tortugas has been debated by countless explorers, military leaders, politicians and local residents throughout the years.  The first structure actually located here was a lighthouse built on the "Garden Key" which would ultimately come to be the lighthouse incorporated into the confines of Fort Jefferson.   The Dry Tortugas get their name from the fact that they are (1) very dry and (2) the place where Ponce de Leon and his sailors found large numbers of sea turtles (tortugas.)  Fort Jefferson was used as a component in the coastal defense plan but, because of its isolation and relative obscurity it became a "detention center" for both military and civilian prisoners.  Perhaps the most famous prisoner in the lonely outpost was Dr. Samuel Mudd who, along with three co-conspiritors, was convicted of complicity in the plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.  It was a really great excursion and we were quite tired at the end of the day.  So ... we're going to stop here for now - but - we've still got that "Sundown Celebration" to share so come on back and join us.  I apologize for the lateness of the last couple of posts but we've had some other things going on.  We'll get back on track right away though!!!  See ya.