Fort Taylor, Key West, Florida: Keep Them Wheels a Rolling - Winter 2015-2016

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Back in mid December 2015, Man and I visited Key West Florida for 4 nights.  Bucket list item.  Fort Zachary Taylor is there as well.  (I have Taylor's in my heritage, no, he is not on my data base, but, I still am always more interested when a family name shows up. The Taylor clan is large.  Some genie sites have Zachary as a descendant of John Taylor, born 1607 in merry ole England, died early 1650s in Lancaster County Virginia.  I have reason to believe that I too, am a descendant of this John Taylor.  If all research was done with diligence and care and proved these suppositions correct, then, Zachary and I are VERY distant cousins.)

Of course, we had to visit.  And, we would actually visit again, the sunsets are stunning from the beach.

But, first, the fort, where we leisurely toured.

Cannons, cannonballs and such are usually displayed at old fort sites, they are here as well.  I always am amazed, these cannons could launch these cannon balls a mile or more??  Do you ever try to envision the impact??  Dramatic.

On top of the walls, you can see the placement of where the cannons were installed.

This fellow was showing off his stuff outside this open window:

Inside, more cannons.  We were somewhat confused by dogs vs no dogs.  We were told at the gate we could take Sir Winston any where in the park, leashed, of course.  Of course.  At the entrance to the fort, there was a sign, no dogs. We opted for the gate guards approval.  GULP.  LOL

Cannon:

Some of the rooms had displays, like rooms for prayers and church services and dining areas.

This room was blocked off, no entry.  As you can tell from the white dust, this portion of the fort was in need of some tender loving care and repairs.

The new vs the old.  I love the contrast.

Fort Taylor was built in 1845.  It was 3 stories tall.  It had 140 cannon and about 450 soldiers.  It remained under Federal control throughout the Civil War.  In about 1898 the top two stories were removed.  It was still active through the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II, finally removed from service in 1947.  There is a web site maintained by the Florida State Parks.



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