Welcome to the Park of the Week Newsletter for June 20, 2024. This week we’re featuring a park that has both one of the largest forts and one of the most impressive collections of seabirds in the United States.
Dry Tortugas National Park
Location
West of Key West, Florida, United States
Claim to fame
Dry Tortugas National Park is both an American cultural and natural treasure. The park preserves the famed Fort Jefferson, one of the largest and most impressive American military structures. The fort was never attacked, but it served many purposes: protecting the southern border and important shipping routes of a young nation, serving as a nearly inescapable prison during the US Civil War, and, since 1932, attracting visitors as a national monument and later national park.
Reason to visit
Accessible only by boat or seaplane, Dry Tortugas National Park is 100 square miles of ocean containing seven small islands; the park is 99% water. Garden Key, the second largest island, is home to Fort Jefferson, the park visitor center, and other amenities, like camping and snorkeling areas.
Visitors are drawn to the remote park by Fort Jefferson but also the park’s wildlife and scenery, like colorful coral reefs, sea turtles, tropical birds, and shipwrecks and other sunken treasures.
Wild Fact
With over 16 million bricks, Fort Jefferson is the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere. Construction on the massive fort began in 1846, continued for almost 30 years, and was never completed.
Bonus Wild Fact: Dry Tortugas National Park is the only nesting site in the continental US for birds like the brown noddy, sooty tern, magnificent frigate bird, and masked booby.
Thanks for reading. Each Thursday, we send out an image and description of a unique natural or cultural treasure like the one above. Learn new things, explore special places, and find your inspiration: sign up for the free newsletter today.