Another Camping Trip

[Eva Elisabeth]

Well, meanwhile I'm back from my spring break camping trip, too. Contrary to Dave's, mine was almost completely unprepared (yes, these Germans are crazy). The entire idea and decision to realize this trip hit me the weekend after returning from the Surratt conference.

First of all I had in mind to camp one night at Dry Tortugas. The way Tom Bogar had described it in "Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination" fascinated me. Also I love the sea, tropic climate and heat, such kind of adventure, and as a biologist I am interested in the birds. Dave Taylor once posted the idea and possibility to camp there, and I thought if he's going to do his Booth experiment, I'll try this. Although in the end it didn't work out to camp there, still it was fantastic. It almost didn't work out to go there at all, because I hadn't booked the ferry in advance. Dave, please think of this!! (But you will sure plan more carefully.) The only thing I had really organized was booking a last-minute flight+car package, and getting a street map with camping sites from the ADAC (our AAA). Well, there wasn't much time for planning details.

Despite Dry Tortugas, I only knew I wanted to see the Gamble Plantation, Powell's grave, the Dali Museum, the Ringling Museum, J. Lennon's cars in the Classic Car Museum in Sarasota, the Hemingway House, the Everglades (I had already visited some of these places in 1990), and at least one aquarium. (And to do a lot of birdwatching and swimming in the sea.) Some of these places are linked with Lincoln and the CW, so I would like to share some photos, info, and experiencs, also in case someone will one day visit the area (hope there's any interest in this). Like Dave, I won't make this all at once, but one by one, and will start now with Dry Tortugas.

As for the DT ferry, I was told to come back very early the next morning. One (single) person didn't show up in time that day, and I was the lucky one to go instead (there were others waiting, too), but had to return the same day.

Included was a guided tour. Despite that the guide only gave basic info on Dr. Mudd and didn't seem to know much about the other conspirators, he told a lot of interesting facts about the history of the Fort, and about life there. E.g that you can see which parts have been built during the CW because the bricks then came from the north and were darker than the ones used before. Or how the cannon balls were heated before usage. Or about the drinking water supply, which I have already posted here:
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...age-2.html
There's a nice little exhibition and a bookstore (where I bought "The Escape and Capture of JWB", another excellent book by Ed Steers).

None of the other visitors' motivation seemed to have been a particular interest in the conspirators, rather a general interest in historic sites, in snorkeling, in making an exciting boat trip, and in birds - and the bird watchers were the campers. Dave, I'm afraid even after the seaplanes and ferries have left you will have to share the little island with roughly ten tents and 20 fellow tourists. The Fort itself is closed from dusk to dawn. Still camping there must be a touching experience and worth it.
Here are some photos:
   
   
   
   
   

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Dr. Mudd's cell as determined through the letters he wrote to his wife. The two compartements adjoin.
   
   
Before the Fort was built, there was only sand on the island.
   
See the darker northern bricks at the top:
   
A magnificent fregatebird:
   

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Pelicans are everywhere:
   
The first lighthouse was established at the Fort (thus on Garden Key) in 1825. This one was built later (if I rember correctly in the 1840ies):
   
   
On the grass in the court one can still see where the first lighthouse stood.

A new lighthouse was constructed on Loggerhead Key between 1856-58, which you can see in the distance. It is still in operation.
   
These two were the only lighthouses on the Gulf coast that stayed in full operation throughout the CW.

First, DT (Garden Key) was chosen as good location for a lighthouse to guide ships around the area's reefs and islands, then it was fortified as an "advance post" for a defense of the Gulf Coast (but construction was never finished). In the CW it became a prison. The peak population was ~2000 persons. As you might know, it never saw any military action.
"Tortugas" ("turtles") refers to 170 sea turtles taken there by the Spanish explorer Ponce de León who discovered the islands in 1513. And you can imagine what "Dry" refers to...I, too, discovered a wildlife sea turtle at the Gulf coast (but not at DT):
   

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...forgot the exhibition:
   
   

[J. Beckert]

Thank you, Eva! I think it's wonderful that you decided to do this and even more wonderful that you have shared it with us!

You bring so much to this forum and have endeared yourself to all of us! Thank you for that.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks Joe - but the same goes vice versa. Without the forum, the members, all the tips, info, motivation, inspiration, and all one can learn here it wouldn't have happened. I've thought about another trip to Florida since I visited it in 1990, but have always delayed it. Now I decided to do this "now or never", but over-night-decisions so far have always turned out to be the best things that happened to me.

Near the end of my trip I had the pleasure to meet Roger and his lovely wife, Vicki, for lunch.

This is Roger and I at Matanzas Restaurant on Ft. Myers Beach

[Dave Taylor]

Eva,

Thank you so much for sharing your adventure with us. Fort Jefferson is one of those places on my bucket list and I do hope to camp there some day as discussed even if I have to fight off some bird watchers. I hope you had a great time!

[RJNorton]

(04-18-2014 09:11 PM)J. Beckert Wrote:  You bring so much to this forum and have endeared yourself to all of us! Thank you for that.

You nailed it, Joe. It was a real privilege to meet her. Over the past year Vicki and I now have had lunch in Florida with Joe Di Cola, Tom Bogar and his wife, Gail, and now Eva. We are truly blessed.

[HerbS]

Eva,You can bring joy to those of us that have not found it,due to circumstances.This forum provides a unique experience for all of us.Thanks!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thank you so much, Herb!!!

Once you are in Key West and interested in CW history, after visiting Dry Tortugas don't miss the Hemingway house.
   
This is where Hemingway wrote his novels:
   
What does the Hemingway have to do with the CW? Well, it was built by Asa Tift (in 1851).
   
Asa Tift was the most notable salvager in Key West in those days and owned a large salvaging operation. His brother, Nelson Tift, was the founder of Albany, Georgia. In 1861, the Confederate Secretary of Navy, Stephen Mallory, sought Asa and Nelson Tift's help to build a naval force. He wrote to the Tifts:

"The department trusts to your patriotism, judgement, and discretion to produce the ship designed in the shortest time at the lowest price, and to act in the premises generally as if you were building for yourselves and had to pay the money out of your own pocket."

Because the Confederacy had no shipyards and only a few skilled shipwrights, the Taft brothers designed their warships, the CSS Mississippi, and the CSS Louisiana, to be build by carpenters using basic house building techniques. The Tift brothers were not paid for their labor. They also financed the ships to be built in Mobile, Alabama. After the North’s victory at Vicksburg, Nelson and Asa decided to blow up the ships rather than let it be captured by the Northern forces.

Like Lincoln, Hemingway loved cats, especially six-toed cats, after being first given such a cat by a ship's captain. Six-toed cats are sometimes referred to as "Hemingway Cats", and at the Hemingway house still live about fifty descendants of his cats (did you notice the one in the photo above?). On the counter of the museum shop sat the biggest, furriest cat I've ever seen (the Lincolns' would have loved it, I'm sure):
   

Another nice place to visit in Key West is Truman's Little White House:
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/...house.html

[LincolnMan]

Eva: you made us all feel like we were on vacation with your wonderful account of the adventure. Where are you going next?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Bill. Well, sure Springfield & Co. are the #1 destinations that are still waiting (more difficult to realize), and I'd love to join you on your next Springfield trip, but at least for this year I've already raided my savings quite seriously.

BTW, gasoline is extremely cheap in the US. In Germany a liter peaked with 1,70 € this year, which is ~ 8$ per gallon!

[LincolnMan]

Too bad Eva- we sure would love to have you join us. Oh well, hopefully next year.
As far as the price of gas- sounds like we in the USA don't know how good we have it.

[BettyO]

Eva -

Thanks for sharing your memorable trip! Fort Jefferson is definitely on my list of places to visit, and yes, if and when I go, I MUST camp out! Sounds like fun to me.....

I'm so glad that you got a chance to experience Florida!

[Linda Anderson]

Great photos and descriptions, Eva! Thank you for much very for posting them.

On top of everything else, it's fascinating to see where Hemingway wrote.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Betty, I suggest a "forum camping event" on DT, together with Dave and maybe others who would join...just daydreaming...(and then I sure would take the bike for the way down the Keys - my very first plan, met many who did so, must be great to enjoy all the breathtaking views this way).

[BettyO]

A Boothie Camping Trip would be tons of fun! We used to have a lot of fun going places as a group - sounds like a winner to me!

[Eva Elisabeth]

It was so exciting to search for and find the Rathbones' grave, that, once in Florida, looking for Lewis Powell's skull's grave was obligatory.
   
   
   
It is very touching to be alone at such a hidden and almost unnoticed place which tells that Powell, like the Rathbones, indeed lived.