08/31/2026
Nearly seventy miles west of Key West, in the middle of open ocean, rises one of the most astonishing sights in Florida. Fort Jefferson is a massive brick fortress built on a tiny coral island in the Dry Tortugas. 🏰
It is the largest brick masonry structure in the Americas, made of some sixteen million bricks, yet it was never finished and never saw battle. For a time it served as a prison, most famously holding Dr. Samuel Mudd after the Lincoln assassination. ⚓
Surrounded by impossibly clear water and reachable only by boat or seaplane, the fort feels like a mirage. To stand on its ramparts with nothing but sea to every horizon is an experience unlike anywhere else in the state. 🌊
Have you made the journey out to the Dry Tortugas, and what surprised you most about the fort?
