The Coral Castle

The Coral Castle, which now sits in Homestead, Florida, is said to be made from tons and tons of coral rocks. Much controversy surrounds the castle, especially the construction of it, because one man, Edward Leedskalnin, supposedly built it by himself. Rumor has it that much of his work was done at night in order to avoid spectators, and he constructed it while using only primitive tools. When asked how he could accomplish this he wouldn’t tell anyone how he assembled it. 1,200 tons of stones make up the castle, including one 30 ton stone, and two 25 foot tall stones. With precision in his measurements and carvings, Edward was able to create structures with rocks that few others can claim to do, even with modern tools.

While it is called the Coral Castle, most of the stones are not actually coral rocks, but rather oolite limestone, which is a sedimentary rock that contains fossil shells and some coral. These types of “coral rocks” are found in southeastern Florida, sometimes abundantly just under the earth’s surface. The castle is typical of other structures made out of limestone rock with coral, or those made from real coral rocks in that it is extremely strong. The Coral Castle even survived a direct hit by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, even when buildings around it were destroyed. Today the castle is a tourist attraction that brings people in every year to marvel at its workmanship.