Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Mysterious, Dog Friendly Coral Castle

The Coral Castle, originally called "Rock Gate Park", is an engineering marvel and its construction in southern Miami is as mysterious as Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids. 

Oz the Terrier visits the mysterious yet dog-friendly Coral Castle in Miami, FL

Ed Leedskalnin, a 5 foot tall, 100 pound man, the sole builder of the Castle. 
It is said that in the 20+ years it took him to build Coral Castle, not one person saw Ed actually working and today, his building secrets are still unknown.  Believe it or not, today's location of the Coral Castle is its second location; in 1936 Ed moved the entire Castle piece by piece over 10 miles to where it is today. 

The Coral Castle in Miami, Florida is a dog-friendly attraction

Interestingly, Ed moved it on an old truck bed which his friend pulled with a tractor and though many people saw the blocks of coral being pulled down the streets of Miami, no one ever saw Ed load or unload the truck bed.  When people would ask Ed how he was able to move blocks of coral weighing 120 pounds per cubic foot, he would just say that he understood the laws of weight and leverage.

The Tool Room
We were all interested to see just what kind of handmade tools Ed used to build his Castle.  So many tools were made from car and truck parts.  The wedges he used to break the blocks of coral loose were made from sharpened truck springs and are actually the only tool that left marks on the blocks of coral.  There was also a handmade wheelbarrow, a grinding wheel and even a ladder.

Oz visits Ed Leedskalnin's tool room at dog-friendly Coral Castle in Miami, FL

Formations, Furniture and More
The grounds of The Coral Castle abound with all kinds of interesting formations and furniture built out of coral.  There is the Polaris Telescope which is two pieces situated 20 feet apart.  When you line the point of the inner formation, the eyepiece, with the crosshairs of the outer piece, you can see the North Star in the night sky.

Oz the Terrier in one of the many chairs carved from coral at Coral Castle

There are lots of chairs all along the grounds, one more interesting than the next.  There are several small chairs, a rocking chair and a throne all carved from the coral.  Ed's Reading Chairs are set in a circle so that he could move with the sun for the best reading light throughout the day.  The center chair and footstool are carved from a single block of coral.

Oz the Terrier explores the bathtub at dog-friendly Coral Castle

We laughed when we found that Ed even built a Bathroom complete with a bathtub.  Ed used to fit it with a wooden plug and fill the tub with water from the well each morning.  By mid-afternoon the water was warm enough from the sunlight for Ed to take a bath.

Ed lived in quarters without modern conveniences above the Tool Shed until his death in 1951.  The property was purchased and is still held privately to this day.  Coral Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Dog-friendly and mysterious Coral Castle

Mysterious & Dog-Friendly Coral Castle
You may be thinking, "I have heard of this place somewhere before" and you would be right.  Billy Idol recorded the song "Sweet Sixteen" (Listen HERE) about The Coral Castle.  The Coral Castle has also been featured on the television show "Ancient Aliens" (Watch Clip HERE) as well as other shows that delve into the mysteries around us.

If you are ever visiting Miami, I highly recommend you take a dog-friendly visit to The Coral Castle to experience the mystery and wonder for yourself.  There is an entrance fee of $15 per person; dogs can enter free of charge.

Do you like mysterious adventures?  Would you go to The Coral Castle?



31 comments:

  1. Wow, what an interest place and a great story behind its construction
    I wonder what made him move it though, do you know? After spending all that time building it the furst time, moving it again..wow!!!!
    Loves and licky kisses
    Princess Leah xxx

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  2. That sounds like a really cool place!

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  3. Now that place is weird! I had never heard of it! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Oh I bet that castle is magic... maybe invisible ghosts built it by night? I'm sure you can smell the magic there Oz... I had no clue that Billy Idol was there too... I remember that time... all boys of my mommas class colored their furs and they tried to imitate the lip-move of Billy :o)

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  5. Cool. You look like a King sitting on your coral throne.
    Wags,
    Ranger

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  6. Yes, I think the term mysterious suits this well lol. I didn't realize he lived here until later on in the post. And while reading, I was thinking that this sounded like something that would be on that Ancient Aliens show. Guess I was right! Very interesting place, Oz. I've never heard of anything like it before.

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  7. Whoah, totally cool!!!

    Mama said, Ouch! Being a scuber diver, she has gotten scraped on a lot of dead coral...It must have taken that dude lots of time to get this coral sanded or smoothed to be, "just right"!

    Smileys!
    Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo

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  8. That's pretty cool! Those are like real monsters
    Lily & Edward

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  9. We have never heard of that place, it sure is beautiful.
    stella rose

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  10. That looks like a really cool place!

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  11. Gosh what a neat and interesting place - love that dogs can visit too!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  12. Looks like a lovely day out!

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  13. Wow! That would be really cool to visit!

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  14. You should have held this until the end of next month. Castles and Halloween go together.

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  15. Love the coral furniture. What a neat place!

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  16. what a super cool adventure! I would LOVE to go the The Coral Castle!
    That chair looked totally pawesome! What Fun!
    Barks and licks and love,
    Dakota
    DakotasDen

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  17. He sounds like a wonderfully eccentric man with amazing talent! Coral Castle will definitely be a must-see if we are in Miami!

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  18. What an interesting place and such cool things to see!!! Some peeps are just so creative. Thanks for sharing.

    Woos - Ciara and Lightning

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  19. I love hearing about dog-friendly destinations. MORE MORE MORE. Please

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  20. I love odd little attractions like that! Here in Colorado we have Bishop's Castle - a real stone castle constructed single-handedly by one very eccentric man.

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  21. Well Oz, mom is a HUGE Billy Idol fan and she did not know that about the song. So she's going to go listen to it right away. We had never heard of this place but loved reading about it! Love Dolly

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  22. Looks like a great place to visit. We would go if we were close!

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  23. What a cool place, thanks for sharing.

    Aroo to you,
    Sully

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  24. ♪ღ♪░H░A░P░P░Y░ B░I░R░T░H░D░A░Y░░♪ღ♪ Oz. Hope your bark-day has been 'pawsome.'

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  25. This is very interesting! You're one lucky dawg.
    Thank you for showing us these
    Hugs,
    Suri

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  26. what a great adventure, it was very cool!

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  27. Wow!!! That place looks super interesting!
    ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!

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  28. How cool is that!?! And so mysterious!
    Cammie!

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  29. That sounds like a really cool place, we would definitely check it out!
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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Thank you for stopping by and leaving a pawprint. I enjoy reading each and every one!
Cairn cuddles,
Oz the Terrier