Fort Jefferson Florida, United States

Fort Jefferson is a massive but unfinished coastal fortress. It is the largest masonry structure in the Americas, and is composed of over 16 million bricks. The Dry Tortugas are part of Monroe County, Florida, United States. The fort is located on Garden Key in the lower Florida Keys within the Dry Tortugas National Park, about 110 km west of the island of Key West.

In May 1829, Commodore John Rodgers stopped at the Dry Tortugas to evaluate the anchorage. Rogers was delighted with what he found. The Dry Tortugas, he reported, consisted of 11 small keys and surrounding reefs and banks, over which the sea broke. There was an outer and an inner harbor. The former afforded a safe anchorage at all seasons, and was large enough to let a large number of ships ride at anchor. Of more importance, the inner harbor combined a sufficient depth of water for ships-of-the-line, with a narrow entrance of not more than 120 yards. A series of engineering studies and bureaucratic delays consumed the next 17 years, but the construction of Fort Jefferson (named after the third President, Thomas Jefferson) was finally begun on Garden Key in 1846. The heavy guns were mounted inside the walls in a string of open casemates, or gunrooms, facing outward toward the sea through large openings called embrasures. Fort Jefferson was designed to be a massive gun platform, impervious to assault, and able to destroy any enemy ships foolhardy enough to come within range of its powerful guns.
Fort Jefferson peak military population was 1729. In addition, a number of officers brought their families, and a limited number of enlisted personnel brought wives who served as laundresses. There were also lighthouse keepers and their families, cooks, a civilian doctor and his family, and others. In all, there were close to 2000 people at Fort Jefferson during its peak years.

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