The Forgotten Prison Floating in the Ocean

Roughly 70 miles west of Key West, Florida, sits one of the most remote and overlooked national parks in the United States: Dry Tortugas.

At its heart lies Fort Jefferson, a massive coastal fortress that looks like it was dropped into the sea.

Surrounded by turquoise water, coral reefs, and not much else, it’s a place of strange contrasts—paradise and punishment in one.

A Fortress in the Middle of Nowhere

Construction on Fort Jefferson began in 1846, intended to protect the Gulf of Mexico's shipping lanes.

With more than 16 million bricks, it remains the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere. 

But the fort was never actually finished—and never fired a shot in battle. Instead, it slowly turned into something else entirely: a prison.

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