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Fort Jefferson is a former U.S. military coastal fortress in the Dry Tortugas National Park of Florida. It is the largest brick masonry structure in the Americas, [2] [3] covering 16 acres (6.5 ha) and made with over 16 million bricks. [4] Among United States forts, only Fort Monroe in Virginia and Fort Adams in Rhode Island are larger.
Fort Jefferson was built to protect one of the most strategic deepwater anchorages in North America. By fortifying this spacious harbor, the United States maintained an important “advance post” for ships patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida.
Fort Jefferson may be located on a scenic tropical island in what is now Dry Tortugas National Park, but inside this fort, there’s no sense of the beautiful Gulf of Mexico waters that lie just beyond the 50-foot-high, 8-foot-thick walls.
Start planning your Fort Jefferson trip today! Click here to download map. When you arrive to the Dry Tortugas, you'll enjoy a guided tour of Fort Jefferson from a National Park Ranger and see history from the Civil War era.
Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park of the United States located about 68 miles (109 km) west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico, in the United States. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the several Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys.
Fort Jefferson was built to protect one of the most strategic deepwater anchorages in North America. By fortifying this spacious harbor, the United States maintained an important "advance post" for ships patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida.
Fort Jefferson was built to protect one of the most strategic deepwater anchorages in North America. By fortifying this spacious harbor, the United States maintained an important “advance post” for ships patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida.
Constructed between 1845 and 1876, Fort Jefferson is a 19th-century third system coastal fortification that occupies the majority of Garden Key in the remote Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys.
Board the Yankee Freedom for a ferry ride to The Dry Tortugas National Park. Made up of seven small islands, it is one of the world’s most unique eco-attractions. Its crown jewel, the historic Fort Jefferson, was once used as a prison during the Civil War.
Fort Jefferson is the dominate feature of Dry Tortugas National Park’s Garden Key, taking up about 85% of the small island. Visitors can explore the fort on their own from sunrise to sunset utilizing a self-guided tour route that starts from the Dry Tortugas Visitor Center inside the fort.