Hello
and welcome back to our blog! In this
post we are visiting arguably the most remote National Park in the contiguous
U.S., Dry Tortugas National Park.
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| Entrance Sign. (Photo courtesy of Mark and Maureen Costa) |
BACKGROUND:
Located
seventy miles west of Key West, the Dry Tortugas are the last in a long chain
of islands known as the Florida Keys.
First charted by Conquistador Ponce de Leon, the islands were dubbed Las
Tortugas, “The Turtles” in English. The
name was later changed to Dry Tortugas due to the small islands lack of
freshwater.
After
Florida was acquired from Spain by the United States, the U.S. Army began
working on fortifying Florida in keeping with U.S. doctrines on seacoast
defense.
The U.S. Navy believed that the
natural anchorage at the Dry Tortugas could be used as a base of operations by
a hostile navy in the event of war, threatening American trade routes through
the Gulf of Mexico.
In order to prevent this,
the Army commissioned the construction of Fort Jefferson to guard the
anchorage.
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| The moat and front wall of Fort Jefferson. |
Construction
on the fort would continue for two decades.
Owing to its remote location, the pace of building dragged on with
little urgency. With the outbreak of the
Civil War, the Union retained possession of Fort Jefferson and converted it
into a prison camp. Its most infamous
prisoner was Dr. Samuel Mudd, who had been caught up in the Lincoln
Assassination Conspiracy (he had provided medical care to John Wilkes Booth
following the assassination). After
assisting medical personnel at the fort following an outbreak of malaria, he
was granted clemency and released.
Advances
in naval artillery rendered the fort, constructed of comparatively fragile
masonry, obsolete and with the anchorage it was meant to protect now seen as
having little strategic value, Fort Jefferson was given to the navy for use as
a coaling station for steam vessels. Eventually
the military gave up possession of the fort and it was established as a National
Monument in 1935, later becoming a National Park in 1992.
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| The front wall and main entrance of Fort Jefferson as seen from the third level of the fort. |
THE PARK:
Dry
Tortugas National Park is located approximately 70 miles west of Key West,
Florida. The Park is roughly 73 square
miles in area, 99 % of which is open ocean.
There are seven islands in the park.
East, Middle, and Hospital Keys are small islets not much larger than
sandbars and are off limits to the public as they are nesting grounds for
endangered sea turtles. The westernmost
island is a long narrow strip of land called Loggerhead Key, which is topped
with a lighthouse and is only accessible, via private watercraft. In the center of the park is Garden Key, the
home of Fort Jefferson. Neighboring to
the east are Bush Key, and Long Key, which may be connected together with
Garden Key by a sandbar depending on sea currents and erosion.
Fort
Jefferson on Garden Key is a six sided, three-tiered, masonry fort. Constructed with over sixteen million bricks
it is the largest masonry structure in North America.
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| A view from atop the fort looking at Bush Key and Long Key, connected to Garden Key as of December 2018 by temporary land bridge. The sandbar connecting the island comes and goes over the decades depending on water currents and erosion. As recently as 2004 the islands were completely separated. |
TRAVEL TIPS:
Due
to its remote location, Dry Tortugas National Park can be visited only by a
select few methods of travel.
While private
watercraft can travel to park, the most common option for visitors is to take
the Yankee Freedom III ferry from Key West.
The ferry operates once daily, departing Key West at approximately 9am
and returning approximately at 5pm.
While it is possible to purchase tickets the day before at the ferry
dock ticket office, available space aboard the ferry is limited and advance
tickets are almost always required.
The
ferry ride is roughly two and a half hours from Key West to Garden Key.
The crew of the Yankee Freedom III provides
meals for both breakfast and lunch as well as sales and rental of snorkel
equipment.
In addition to the Yankee
Freedom III, several companies operate float planes which deliver guests to the
islands.
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| The Yankee Freedom III ferry docked at Fort Jefferson. |
Camping
is permitted overnight on Garden Key.
Reservations must be made through the Yankee Freedom III, however
facilities on the island (restrooms and showers) are nonexistent. The only flush toilets are located aboard the
Yankee Freedom III while there are vault toilets on the island.
Fort
Jefferson is an inherently dangerous environment, so caution is to be exercised
while exploring. The fort itself has no
railings along the upper levels to prevent someone from falling, falling bricks
from loose masonry though very rare may be possible, and there are no
lifeguards for those who wish to go snorkeling.
There are two snorkel beaches on the north and south sides of the island
near the ruins of the former coaling docks.
