Click
Here For A 360 Degree Picture of Coral Castle
Coral
Castle
28655 S. Dixie Highway (at SW 286th St.),
Homestead
(305) 248-6344
Hours:
Daily: 9 am-7:30 pm
Admission/fees:
Adult: 7.75
Senior: $6.50
Children 7-12: $5.00
One
of Florida’s oldest operating attractions, Coral
Castle is a monument to unrequited love. In
1923 an eccentric Latvian immigrant, Edward
Leedskalnin, began hauling tons of coral onto his
property. He carved it into a house and all the
furniture he needed. For seven years he worked alone
building this tribute to "Sweet Sixteen,"
a young girl who jilted him back in the old country.
Using
primitive homemade tools, Leedskalnin carved massive
objects including a heart-shaped table recorded
in Ripley’s Believe it or Not as the "World’s
Biggest Valentine." Other huge pieces in the
property’s courtyard include a
Florida-shaped table, a throne that rocks, a sundial
that tells time, a bird bath table, a fountain, and
enormous coral chairs.
Inside
the house, visitors can view Leedskalnin’s
bathtub, bed, reclining chair, and other creature
comforts he knocked out of coral blocks.
According to the tour brochure, his most outstanding
achievement is the 9-ton coral gate. The brochure
says it can be moved with one finger. The biggest
curiosity is how the spurned lover was able to move
these several ton objects without using modern
hauling equipment. Leedskalnin said he knew the
secrets used to build the ancient pyramids. He must
have had some special power to create this monument
himself.
A
30-minute audio tape for self-guided tours gives
details about the strange dwelling. Coral
Castle is located in Homestead, the center of south
Florida’s fruit and nursery production and gateway
to Everglades National Park. It is approximately 20
miles south of Miami on US 1. Other attractions
nearby are the Fruit & Spice Park and Monkey
Jungle.
