Geo Travel Blog

Almost at the tip of southern Florida is an amazing structure that has garnered the attention of tens of thousands of visitors each and every year. Located just over 30 miles of Miami Florida exists one of the most amazing and mind altering tourist attractions in the world. Compared most often to Stonehenge in England, this megalithic marvel rests on the side of the South Dixie Highway as you travel to the Keys

The Coral Castle is a structure that is made entirely of coral or more specifically make oolitic limestone. Built over a forty-year period, this amazing structure was designed and built by one man without the use of any modern tools. Ed Leedskalnin weighed about 100 pounds and stood a mere 5 feet tall. Though his work history would have made him a strong man, it is doubtful that even the strongest person, with knowledge of weights and measures, could have created what you will find in Homestead Florida.

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.

Using only primitive tools that can still be seen in what is called “Ed’s Tool Room”, the tour guides at the Coral Castle will show you around this amazing structure. Many of the guides have completely different opinions. Some of them think that Ed harnessed an energy or techniques that had been forgotten by the ancient Egyptians. Only after rediscovering what the pyramid builders of Egypt had known thousands of years ago did Ed have the capability of building one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

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.

Edward Leedskalnin was also a very hard working individual. After traveling throughout Canada and working in the lumber industry, he descended into the United States going through California and eventually arriving in Texas possibly due to participating in a cattle drive. Unfortunately for Ed, he developed a very bad case of tuberculosis, a disease that during the early 1900s had taken the lives of millions. It was not until 1946 that the antibiotic streptomycin was created and that an effective treatment and cure became possible.

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.

Ed’s small stature, standing only 5 feet tall and weighing a mere hundred pounds, may have been useful working on cattle drives and in the lumber industry, but it was no match for the tuberculosis that he found himself infected with. After being found near the dead in South Florida by a local realtor, through their kindness he was able to recover completely from this illness, something that was virtually unattainable in the latter stages of this disease. Once he was healthy enough, he purchased a single acre of land near Florida City where he began the construction of his monument to the woman that never loved him.

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.

One of Ed’s greatest creations is a single piece of coral called the Obelisk which weighs nearly 30 tons, stands 40 feet above the ground, and rests in the 6 foot deep hole. Today, modern engineers and modern equipment would be unable to duplicate what Ed was able to do with simple tools over 70 years ago. His secrets died with him in Miami in 1951, secrets that still puzzle modern engineers today.

In the 1980s, the most famous part of the Coral Castle, the 9 ton gate, stopped working because it had worn the ball bearings upon which it rested and turned flat. Engineers and workers from the University of Miami came to fix it, along with a 60 ton crane. After their attempt to fix this 18,000 pound door, it is still possible to turn this gate, but it is no longer perfectly balanced, something that Ed and did all by himself without the aid of engineers or a 60 ton crane to help in the lifting.

Going against all odds, and coming back from a disease that almost killed him, Edward Leedskalnin has created one of the most amazing megalithic structures in the modern world. Although the Coral Castle is a tourist attraction today, just 30 miles south of Miami, is much more than a sideshow attraction. Ed Leedskalnin said that he knew the secrets of the pyramids. Sadly, Ed died with his secrets still in him but fortunately for all of us a legacy of his life is still available in South Florida today. If you are ever in the Miami area, check out the Coral Castle. You will be amazed and astounded by what one man, Edward Leedskalnin, was able to do.