Friday, January 14, 2011
Homestead Florida - Coral Castle - January 11 2011
Molly and I went to see this neat Coral Castle.
The story goes that ED Leedskalnin who was jilted by the love of his life built this castle and dedicated it to her. Being of smaller frame, 5 feet tall and weighing 100 pounds, without any help and using only simple tools he carved and moved tons of coral rock.
Ed originally built the castle in Florida City on an acre of land that he purchased for $12.00 but in 1936 a subdivision was proposed for the area and Ed fearing the loss of his privacy he moved the entire castle 10 miles north to Homestead where he purchased 10 acres of land. Ed used the chassis of an old Republic truck on which he laid two rails and pulled by a friend with a tractor. Ed did much of his work at night and no one actually saw him load or unload the trailer.
Throne Room.
Bath Tub - the tub was lined with concrete because coral is porous and would not hold water.
The Cooker - The cooking pot is the rear end housing of an old Ford. It hangs on a pulley riding on a rail. The food is placed in the container, which seals itself when taken off the stand and pushed over the fire. The sealed container actually acts like a pressure cooker. It was used to cook hotdogs for the school visits to view the castle.
Molly is being a good sport and sitting in one of the coral chairs.
The upper floor was Ed's living quarters and the lower level was the tool room.
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