Fort Jefferson on BoothieBarn

[L Verge]

A blogger has posted some great photos of Fort Jefferson on Dave Taylor's BoothieBarn.com. Check them out.

[RJNorton]

I agree - terrific photos. My wife, daughter, and I were there in c.1994, and my only complaint was the short amount of time the seaplane company allowed for the visit (a few hours as I recall). It was a gorgeous day, and we could easily have stayed several more hours.

[BettyO]

I hope to get down there someday.... on my list of places to go -

[LincolnMan]

Betty: me too- I've never been there.

[Dave Taylor]

I have never visited Fort Jefferson, but it is high on my list of places to visit. I actually want to camp there overnight. From things I've read, that's one of the best ways to do it. In that way you can see the Fort after all the tourists on the seaplanes and ferries have left. They say sunrise and sunset on Fort Jefferson is beautiful.

[Rsmyth]

Dave, that would be a great way to experience the fort! When my wife and I went there were not many people there at all and most were snorkeling. We pretty much had the fort to ourselves. We also walked completely around the fort on the moat wall.

[Tom Bogar]

One word of caution, though, if you're planning a trip to Ft. Jefferson (I found out the hard way): winter months can be tricky due to high wind/wave conditions that keep the boat from going out (a 2-plus hr ride each way) for days. I sat there for several days in March, and ultimately had to fly back down to Key West in May (hardly a hardship!), in order to be able to get out there. (But the fun of that trip was that Mo Rocca was also on board, filming a segment on the fort for CBS Sunday Morning.) It really is a beautiful place, though, and the chance to actually tour the fort and sit in the two cells the convicted conspirators were confined in at various times is pretty cool. Never very crowded either (the park ranger there told us its one of the least-visited NPS sites--easy to see why!) Dave, I have more photos if you need, but the ones you have already are superb.

[Gene C]

I actually want to camp there overnight.

Just watch out for the crabs in the evening. They tend to be a bit aggressive . They also like shiny luggage,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEwaVILN7TI

No wonder that Mudd tried to escape!

For a more educational video about the type of crabs you may encounter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTVWQ8dxPW0

[RJNorton]

Just watch out for the crabs in the evening. They tend to be a bit aggressive .

That explains why Johnson (or was it Stanton?) changed the prisoners' destination from the Federal penitentiary in Albany to Ft. Jefferson.