Coral Castle Built By One Person For His Beloved, Florida, America

Coral Castle, Florida, America

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Coral Castle was designed and built by Edward Leedskalnin, a 5 Feet tall man, weighing 100 pounds and suffering from tuberculosis. He was jilted by his 16-year-old fiancee Agnes Scuffs just one day before their wedding. Heartbroken he decided to leave for America and build his own home. He states that magnets cured his tuberculosis. He purchased a land in Florida from Ruben Moser and started building his own castle. He spent 28 years building his home and allowed no one to visit him and his home. He had chosen this location because it was a remote area at that time with no development. In 1923 he named the castle Rock Gate Park. The Castle remained in Florida City till 1936 until he heard of some development in the area and decided to move 10 miles north from Florida City. He moved his castle with him too to it’s present location. Leedskalnin continued to work on the castle up until his death in 1951.

The castle is built from several megalithic stones (mostly limestones formed from coral) each weighing in tons. It is amazing how a single person with low physical strength and suffering from a disease built such a masterpiece with the mere use of primitive tools. The grounds of Coral Castle consist of 1,000 tons of stones found in the forms of walls, furniture, carvings and castle tower. The two story castle tower served as Leedskalnin’s home. The walls were made of 8-foot high pieces of stone. He made an accurate sundail, a Ploaris telescope, a barbecue pit, a fountain, a water well, heart shaped table, bath tubs, royal throne, 25 chairs, chairs resembling crescent moon, a star shaped healing point, beds and a table in the shape of Florida. In his book, A Book in Every Home he expressed his love for his fiancee and declared the castle a gift for his “Sweet Sixteen”.

He became ill in December 1951 and died of stomach cancer. In January 1981 Coral Castle, Inc. bought the castle from a relative of Leedskalnin for $175,000. In 1984, The National Register of Historic Places added the castle to it’s list of historic places.