Fort Taylor - Fort TaylorFort Taylor was built starting in 1845 as part of a plan to build up a defense of the coastline. For twenty years slaves, masons and soldiers worked on the fort in miserable conditions and many died. During the Civil War, Key West remained part of the Union, even though it was far south of the Mason Dixon line. In fact, it was the only southern city to remain part of the Union. Therefore, when Florida seceded from the Union, Union soldiers had to march in and claim it for the Union. Meanwhile, young men from Key West were joining the Confederate Army in droves. For all its loyalty to the Union, Fort Zachary Taylor didn't get much response from Washington when it begged for supplies and more troops. It just wasn't considered strategically important enough. This fact, along with the fort's reputation as a disease hotbed (yellow fever), made it a very dismal place to be. It wasn't even completed before it was considered obsolete. Its brick walls couldn't stand up to new technology in canon balls which could shatter brick masonry like a house of cards. Throughout the wars of next century and half, Fort Zachary Taylor was slightly modified to serve briefly here and there, but by the 1960s it was an abandoned pile of weeds. Then the Navy let their historian renovate the place and now it's a State Park. The Florida Park Service manages it and the surrounding fifty acres. It's a fun place to visit, and there's the cleanest beach in town here, along with picnic facilities, a snack hut, and cycling trail. Keep an eye out for Key West Sculpture placed around the grounds in special exhibits, too. |
