Seventy miles off Key West, Florida, lie the Dry Tortugas, which consist of 7 small islands. One of them–Garden Key– is the site of Fort Jefferson which is the country’s largest coastal fort and also the country’s largest masonry structure. It takes up 11 of Garden Key’s 16 acres. Construction started in 1846 and lasted for 30 years, mainly because each of the 11,000,000 bricks had to be brought in by boat. It was never coompleted and never was a shot fired. The lighthouse was built in 1876 and discontinued in 1921. It was on a U.S. stamp in 2009. The first photo is dated 1897 (click to enlarge), the third 1900, and the fifth 1935.
