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Fort Jefferson
Dry Tortugas, Monroe County
RUIN
9STRANGENESS
OUT OF TEN
OUT OF TEN
WHAT IT IS
A hexagonal brick fortress of 16 million bricks on a sand key 70 miles out to sea, never finished, once a prison for a Lincoln conspirator.
The largest masonry structure in the Americas was built to control the Gulf shipping lanes, using slave and convict labour, on an island with no fresh water. Rifled artillery made it obsolete before completion. It held Dr Samuel Mudd, convicted of aiding John Wilkes Booth, who treated the garrison through a yellow fever outbreak and was pardoned for it. The moat still stands, the reef around it is spectacular, and getting there takes most of a day.
HOW IT SCORES
Rarity10/10
Is there anywhere else like it?
Backstory10/10
How did this come to be?
Disrepair8/10
What is holding it together?
Commitment7/10
How far do they take the bit?
NEARBY
BEFORE YOU DRIVE
- ENTRY FEE
- $220 ferry plus $15 park fee
- HOURS
- Ferry departs Key West daily, weather permitting
- BEST TIME
- Book weeks ahead. Camp overnight if you can.
- HOW LONG
- Full day
- PARKING
- At the Key West ferry terminal
- PAYMENT
- Cards accepted
- ACCESS
- Boat or seaplane only; ground floor accessible
COORDINATES
24.6286° N, 82.8732° W
Yankee Freedom ferry from Key West, 70 miles west. Seaplanes also fly.
OPEN IN MAPS →DETAILS COMPILED FROM PUBLISHED SOURCES. FEES CHANGE. CALL AHEAD.