Coral Castle - Miami

On one of my trips to Miami, I decided to see the sights. My cousin, brother, a friend and I decided to do our research and see what there’s to see close by. We found out about a small installation known as the Coral Castle.

Edward Leedskalnin from Latvia, was to be wed to a woman but she called it off early. Heartbroken, he migrated to the United States in New York. He worked as a construction worker, till he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He heard somewhere that the cure is several hours in the sun every day. He then moved to Florida where he could get this much needed sun. He decided to build a castle here out of Coral at South Dixie Highway.

This one guy worked only at night to avoid prying eyes, created large structures using the same coral that was extracted from the ground during construction. He created large statues, tables with chairs, a well, a monolith, a primal telescope and a 3 ton and 9 ton gates that can be moved with the gentlest of fingertips. Over time however several engineers were contracted to repair the gate to is freely moving system however to this date it could no longer be brought to its original state.

The guy had a very old fashioned look on life and built his castle with thrones for him to be the king, one for his would be queen, and children even though he never married. He turned the castle into a tourist attraction where guests would either pay with 25 cents or bring a meal for him.

Have you ever been to the Coral Castle? Are there any amazing sites to see in Florida, I’d Like to visit them?