Exploring the Mind-Boggling Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida
Push a nine-ton revolving stone gate to enter the strange world of Edward Leedskalnin, the 5-foot, 1-inch Latvian mason who single-handedly carved massive pieces of fossilized coral rock to create this coral architectural fantasy for an unrequited love. Like the nearby Fruit and Spice Park, this is a worthwhile roadside attraction just off of the road between Miami and the Keys. Roaming around his limestone thrones, beds, tables, water well, sundial, and other curiosities, sit and listen for Leedskalnin's ghostly voice, supposedly bent on describing his unimaginable feats from beyond.
Ed Leedskalmin once loved, but lost. His lady spurned him, but he wanted to pay tribute to her. So he decided to build a castle to honor her. Near Homestead, FL, always in darkness, he began assembling large sections of coral rock. Alone, he managed to place the giant stones forming walls and rooms for "her" castle. In later years, engineers have marveled how one slightly built man could have pulled off the construction fete.. Inside the castle, his story unfolds, but the mystery of how he did it remains.Within the castle. he built furnishings from coral rock..
There is a well known fact in south Florida about coral rock. The good news: you never have to paint it. The bad news: it never dries. Perhaps Leedskalmin's tears never dried either..
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A pair of lizards creates a bizarre ballet in the shimmering heat. Thirty minutes from Miami, the traffic is chaotic. But visitors to the Coral Castle seem oblivious, enthralled by one man's creation. Purportedly designed for a lost love, the castle was cut from dry coral stone. The stonemason, a diminutive reclusive man, only five-feet tall and 100 pounds soaking wet, worked under cover of night. He managed to single-handedly quarry and manipulate tons of stone to create a nine-ton gate, an obelisk, a unique sundial, and a Polaris telescope. Was it genius or madness that precipitated construction of the castle? Were powers of magnetic energy or methods of ancient Egyptian pyramid builders employed? Perhaps we'll never know.
Push a nine-ton revolving stone gate to enter the strange world of Edward Leedskalnin, the 5-foot, 1-inch Latvian mason who single-handedly carved massive pieces of fossilized coral rock to create this coral architectural fantasy for an unrequited love. Like the nearby Fruit and Spice Park, this is a worthwhile roadside attraction just off of the road between Miami and the Keys. Roaming around his limestone thrones, beds, tables, water well, sundial, and other curiosities, sit and listen for Leedskalnin's ghostly voice, supposedly bent on describing his unimaginable feats from beyond.
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