Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Significant dates
Fort Zachary Taylor
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark

Aerial view of Fort Zachary Taylor State Park

Location	Monroe County, Florida, USA
Nearest city	Key West, Florida
Coordinates	24°32′52″N 81°48′35″W / 24.54778°N 81.80972°W / 24.54778; -81.80972Coordinates: 24°32′52″N 81°48′35″W / 24.54778°N 81.80972°W / 24.54778; -81.80972
NRHP Reference #	71000244^[1]
Added to NRHP	March 11, 1971^[1]
Designated NHL	May 31, 1973^[2]

The Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, better known simply as Fort Taylor (or Fort Zach to locals) is a Florida State Park and National Historic Landmark centered on a Civil War-era fort located near the southern tip of Key West, Florida.

History of Fort Zachary Taylor

Fort Taylor, Florida by Seth Eastman (1808-1875)

1845–1900

Construction of the fort began in 1845 as part of a mid-19th century plan to defend the southeast coast through a series of forts. The fort was named for United States President Zachary Taylor in 1850, a few months after President Taylor's sudden death in office. Yellow fever epidemics and material shortages slowed construction of the fort, which continued throughout the 1850s. At the outset of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, Union Captain John Milton Brannan seized control of the fort, preventing it from falling into Confederate hands and using it as an outpost to threaten blockade runners. Originally, the fort was surrounded by water on all sides, with a walkway linking it to the island. The fort was completed in 1866, although the upper level of one side was destroyed in 1889 to make way for more modern weapons, with the older cannons being buried within the new outer wall to save on materials. The fort was heavily used again during the 1898 Spanish–American War.

Central Yard of Fort Zachary Taylor in January 2006.

1900–present

In 1947, the fort, no longer of use to the U.S. Army, was turned over to the U.S. Navy for maintenance. In 1968, volunteers led by Howard S. England excavated Civil War guns and ammunition buried in long-abandoned parts of the fort, which was soon discovered to house the nation's largest collection of Civil War cannons. Fort Taylor was therefore placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973. Due to the filling in of land around the fort, including the creation of an attractive stretch of beach, the park now occupies 87 acres (352,000 m²).

Truman Annex

The fort's land that is closer to downtown Key West became part of the Truman Annex to Naval Air Station Key West. The annex was originally a separate major installation known as Naval Station Key West and, until its closure in 1974, included a submarine base.

President Harry S. Truman used Naval Station Key West for his Winter White House for 175 days in 11 visits. The Secret Service had a private beach built on the land for the president's security, but he reportedly only visited it once, preferring the public beaches. The beach name is called "Truman Beach." The fort, along with its related support buildings, was later renamed for Truman.

Naval Station Key West was decommissioned in 1974 as part of post-Vietnam War force reductions because the U.S. Navy had decommissioned nearly all of their diesel-electric submarines and contemporary nuclear powered submarines were too large for the station's existing port. Most of the then-former naval station became an annex (e.g., Truman Annex) to the remaining Naval Air Station Key West and served as the landing point for many during the 1980 Mariel boatlift of Cuban refugees. Those buildings in the Truman Annex and associated real estate not retained by the U.S. Navy as part of NAS Key West were sold to private developers. There is a museum for the Truman White House and the U.S. Navy continues to own and maintain the piers and that portion of the former Naval Station Key West property to the south of Fort Taylor, primarily in support of Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATFS) and the Naval Security Group Activity (NAVSECGRUACT Key West).

Current uses

In addition to the role of the fort and its adjacent beach as tourist attractions, Fort Taylor is also the location of a number of annual events, including week-long Civil War reenactments. On the weekend preceding Halloween, it is transformed into a haunted fort, much like a haunted house but on a grand scale and with a distinctive Civil War theme.

The fort as seen from the Gulf of Mexico
Picnic area and beach.
Beach
Fort
Outside view of Fort Zachary Taylor, showing the moat.
Sunset from park.
Aerial view showing fort, picnic area and beach.

Historic Fort Taylor

References

1 2 Staff (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
↑ Fort Zachary Taylor at National Historic Landmarks Program

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Zachary Taylor.

Fort Zachary Taylor at Florida State Parks
History of Fort Zachary Taylor at Absolutely Florida
Friends of Fort Taylor website
Florida Department of State: State Archives of Florida Online Catalog Architectural and technical drawings of Fort Zachary Taylor 1969-1980
Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. FL-283, "Fort Taylor, Whitehead Spit Vicinity, Key West, Monroe County, FL", 22 photos, 5 data pages, 2 photo caption pages, supplemental material

Protected areas of Florida

Federal

National Parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades

National Memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline

National Monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas

National Seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands

National Forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola

National Wildlife Refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands

Other National Protected Areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries	Apalachicola NERR Florida Keys NMS Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR

State

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier-Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef John U. Lloyd Beach Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef

Botanical Garden Parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks

Lakes, Rivers and Springs Parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Three Rivers Troy Springs Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs

Recreation Areas	Gamble Rogers Memorial

Museums, Historic sites, and Archaeological sites	Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater

Preserves and Reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Estero Bay Fakahatchee Strand Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh

State Trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee

State Forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Other

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Florida

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Lists by city	Miami

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