Discover The Coral Castle Near Miami Florida

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Located at 28655 S. Dixie Hwy. in a little town called Homestead Florida not 35 miles south of Miami lies one of the strangest and most amazing tourist attractions not only in the state of Florida but in the United States.

This place is called the Coral Castle. It was built by one man over a period of 20 years. His name was Edward Leedskalnin. He dedicated his life to creating this 1100 tons structure of coral to a person that he loved who did not love him.

As the story goes, and Leedskalnin was engaged to be married to his sweetheart named Agnes Scuffs. Ed was infatuated with her and affectionately called her his “Sweet 16″. Ed called her this because he was 26 years old at the time and she was nearly 16.

On the day before the wedding, Agnes dealt a low blow to Ed telling him that she no longer wanted to marry him. Speculation has brought a possible theories that his fourth-grade education or his lack of money may have been motivating factors.

Whatever the reason was, this was a very life changing event for Ed Leedskalnin. It cost him to pack up and leave his hometown in Latvia and journey across the ocean to Canada to start his new life.

They say that Ed wondered about for several years. He began his journey in Canada and later moved into California and Texas. He worked at several types of jobs including cattle drives and working in the lumber camps of Northern California.

Those that have seen the Coral Castle in Homestead believe that these very laborious jobs made Ed into a very strong man and allowed him to move the 1100 tons of coral that would eventually be known as the Coral Castle. The story seems to be in contrast to the fact that he developed tuberculosis and nearly died after contracting it.

It only weighed 100 pounds and was a mere 5 foot in height. A realtor in the Florida city area actually helped him recover from tuberculosis. Afterwards, he purchased a single acre of land for $12 and began to make the Coral Castle.

Ed had a very noble idea of what it meant to come to America. He believes that the United States was the land of opportunity and that a person could find their place and become famous by working hard and staying on task. Based upon this belief, and his love for Agnes, he began the construction of the Coral Castle with the coral that was only a few inches under the topsoil of the land that he had purchased.

In this particular part of Florida, the coral is several thousand feet in depth. He had plenty of material to work with and he began right away. Dedicating this initial creation to his Sweet Sixteen, and began history into the miraculous creating domestic coral works of art such as chairs, beds, and tables, all weighing several tons a piece.

What is even more miraculous is that except for a few pictures but Ed allowed to be taken of him, no one ever saw him working. To this day, no one knows how Edward Leedskalnin extracted, carved, moved, and positioned the coral artifacts that you can see today.

It created many amazing coral pieces including what is called the Polaris telescope. It is a single piece of coral that is so perfectly carved and positioned that you can look through a triangular eyepiece and see the Northstar every night.

Edward Leedskalnin died in’51. No one ever found out his secret for moving blocks of coral that way sometimes in excess of 30 tons. Regardless of how he did it, it is an amazing structure to behold.

It is literally only a 30 minute drive from Miami. Take an hour out of your day to not only see one of the most amazing tourist attractions in South Florida. You will not be disappointed and you will be left completely amazed.

Find out more information on the Coral Castle today

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