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Key Information

Fort Jefferson

Type Coastal Fort & Prison
Construction 1846 to 1875
Designer Montgomery C. Meigs and Joseph Totten
Made From Bricks
Uses Lighthouse, Fort, Prison, and Quarantine Hospital

Learning Point

  • Fort Jefferson was built with the idea of helping to remove piracy in the Caribbean, even though the islands lacked some of the ideal requirements for a base. First a lighthouse was built, and then later the main fort, the largest in the area, was built in stages. It was used as a fort, a prison, and a quarantine station. It is now a National Monument.

Project

  • Draw a picture of Fort Jefferson from when it was built.
  • Overview
  • Arch Design
Fort Jefferson
By U.S. National Park Service – U.S. National Park Service [1]; English Wikipedia, original upload 2 March 2005 by Brian0918, Public Domain, Link
Internal Arches of Fort Jefferson
By Marque1313 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Location

Located in Dry Tortugas, Florida, United States

Fun Facts

  • It covers an area of 16 acres and was made with over 16 million bricks.
  • It was named after the third US President, Thomas Jefferson.
  • They used rainwater to provide safe drinking water, though some early attempts to filter it didn’t work very well.
  • At the height of its use as a prison in November 1864, 882 prisoners were in the fort, guarded by 583 soldiers.

Past Lessons

123 May 16, 2024 (North America)
No Past Lessons

Upcoming Lessons

No Upcoming Lessons