American Lighthouses by Bruce Roberts & Cheryl Shelton-Roberts

Author:Bruce Roberts & Cheryl Shelton-Roberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Globe Pequot
Published: 2019-12-24T16:00:00+00:00

By 1846 the tower’s lantern barely peeked above Fort Jefferson, an impressive structure with walls fifty feet high and eight feet thick and containing more than forty million bricks. Fort Jefferson’s 450 smooth-bore cannons were capable of pummeling an entire enemy fleet but were never once fired in anger. Instead, the fort served as a prison, its most notable inmate being Maryland physician Samuel Mudd, thrown into a stinking cell here for having—innocently enough—set the broken leg of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. President Grant pardoned Dr. Mudd in 1869 for his humanitarian efforts during a yellow-fever epidemic.

A hurricane ruined the original Garden Key Lighthouse in 1873. Its replacement, completed three years later, consisted of a thirty-seven-foot cast-iron tower positioned atop the walls of the fort. Its fourth-order Fresnel lens, illuminated by kerosene lamps, gave the beacon a range of approximately sixteen miles. The light was decommissioned in 1912.

Travel information: Garden Key and its lighthouse are part of Dry Tortugas National Park (P.O. Box 6208, Key West, FL 33041; 305-242-7700; nps.gov/drto/index.htm), encompassing nearly 65,000 acres of coral reef and churning surf, but only forty acres of dry land. Attractions include historic Fort Jefferson and a one-hundred-square-mile naturalist’s paradise where ocean mammals, sharks, fish, and seabirds of every variety abound. Visitors to the park can swim, snorkel, camp, kayak, and canoe. Information about charter boats, ferries, and scheduled seaplane service are available from the Key West Chamber of Commerce (510 Greene St., Key West FL 33040; 305-294-2587; keywestchamber.org).

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