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Photo courtesy of the
Florida Division of Historical Resources.
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Construction of Fort Zachary Taylor began in 1845 as part of a chain of forts designed to protect Florida's coastline, but its primary objective was to guard the strategic port of Key West. Named shortly after President Zachary Taylor died in 1850, the three-story fort was completed in 1866, having remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War. Its five-foot thick walls rose 50 feet above the water and the three-mile range of the fort's 10-inch Rodman and Columbiad cannons at one point held 299 Confederate ships in Key West harbor. Shaped like a trapezoid, the structure originally was located 1,000 feet offshore, but silt and dredge fill over the years have caused the fort to become landlocked. Technological advances in weapons during the Civil War made the fort and its 198 guns obsolete. By the end of the Spanish-American War, the walls were reduced to one story to accommodate new guns. In 1947, the Navy took control of the fort from the Army. In 1971 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it became a National Historic Landmark in 1973. Archaeological discoveries at Fort Taylor include a French-made desalinization plant that once provided fresh water to the fort’s occupants and the largest collection of Civil War cannons ever found.
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