Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Monroe County · South Florida & the Keys

Eighty-seven acres at the western end of Key West, holding a brick fort begun in 1845 and the clearest swimming beach on the island.

QUESTIONS THAT NAME THIS PLACE

How Long Is the Drive Through the Florida Keys to Key West?

ABOUT THIS PLACE

The fort was part of the coastal defenses built after the War of 1812 and took the name of President Zachary Taylor in November 1850, a few months after he died in office. In January 1861 Union Captain John Milton Brannan marched his men in and held it, which kept Key West in Union hands for the whole of the Civil War and made the blockade of the Gulf possible from here. In 1968 volunteers dug out the artillery that had been buried inside the walls and uncovered what is now the largest collection of Civil War cannon in the country. The fort was in service again in the Spanish-American War, both world wars and the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. It was made a National Historic Landmark in 1973, handed to the state in 1976 and opened to the public in 1985. The beach here is deeper and clearer than the town beaches

GETTING THERE

Get Directions ↗Official place website ↗

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