The empty Fort Jefferson lies in the Dry Tortugas National Park, on Garden Key next to Bush and Long Key, part of Key West, Florida.

Fort Jefferson is a now abandoned in Florida and turned national park of the largest masonry structure in North America. It was named Dry Tortugas because there is no natural fresh water located on the land. It is constructed of over 16 million bricks and was never fully finished.

Construction of the fort began in 1846 and continued into the American Civil War era. In 1865, 4 men were convicted of conspiracy of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and sent to the Dry Tortugas Fort Jefferson prison. Becoming too hard to maintain and no fresh water guarantees, Fort Jefferson was turned over to the Marine Hospital Service to be used as a quarantine station in 1888. In the 1930’s, it was visited by Franklin Roosevelt and designated a National Monument and put on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today it is open for tours and visits. Since it is a national park, camping is even permitted on the beach.

The book, World War Zor watch, takes place at the fort after the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse.

The movie, The Prisoner of Shark Island, takes place and is mostly filmed at Fort Jefferson. The novel, Flashback, by Nevada Barr, takes place solely at the coastal fort.

Where is the abandoned Florida naval Fort Jefferson located? You can find it with these coordinates. 24.628923, -82.873502.

Image 2 is licensed under CC By NC ND 2.0. Image 2 by Matthew Paulson.