page_title: Coral Castle
section_title: The Castle
hierarchical_section_title: Coral Castle / The Castle
caption_attribution_description: Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida
context_page_description: Coral Castle is an oolite limestone structure created by the Latvian-American eccentric Edward Leedskalnin. It is located in unincorporated territory of Miami-Dade County, Florida, between the cities of Homestead and Leisure City. The structure comprises numerous megalithic stones, mostly limestone formed from coral, each weighing several tons. It is currently a privately operated tourist attraction. Coral Castle is noted for legends surrounding its creation that claim it was built single-handedly by Leedskalnin using reverse magnetism or supernatural abilities to move and carve numerous stones, each weighing many tons.
context_section_description: The grounds of Coral Castle consist of 1,100 short tons (1,000 t) of stones in the form of walls, carvings, furniture, and a castle tower. Commonly mistakenly believed to be made of coral, it is actually made of oolite, also known as oolitic limestone. Oolite is a sedimentary rock composed of small spherical grains of concentrically layered carbonate that may include localized concentrations of fossil shells and coral. Oolite is found throughout southeastern Florida from Palm Beach County to the Florida Keys. Oolite is often found beneath only several inches of topsoil, such as at the Coral Castle site.
  The stones are fastened together without mortar. They are set on top of each other using their weight to keep them together. The craftsmanship detail is so fine and the stones are connected with such precision that no light passes through the joints. The 8-foot (2.4 m) tall vertical stones that make up the perimeter wall have a uniform height. Even with the passage of decades the stones have not shifted.
  Among the features and carvings are a two-story castle tower that served as Leedskalnin's living quarters (walls consisting of 8-foot-high pieces of stone), an accurate sundial, a Polar telescope, an obelisk, a barbecue, a water well, a fountain, celestial stars and planets, and numerous pieces of furniture. The furniture pieces include a heart-shaped table, a table in the shape of Florida, twenty-five rocking chairs, chairs resembling crescent moons, a bathtub, beds, and a throne.
  With few exceptions, the objects are made from single pieces of stone that weigh on average 15 short tons (14 t) each. The largest stone weighs 30 short tons (27 t) and the tallest are two monoliths standing 25 ft (7.6 m) each.
  A 9-short-ton (8.2 t) revolving 8-foot tall gate is a famous structure of the castle, documented on the television programs In Search of... and That's Incredible!. The gate is carved so that it fits within a quarter of an inch of the walls. It was well-balanced, reportedly so that a child could open it with the push of a finger. The mystery of the gate's perfectly balanced axis and the ease with which it revolved lasted for decades until it stopped working in 1986. In order to remove it, six men and a 50-short-ton (45 t) crane were used. Once the gate was removed, the engineers discovered how Leedskalnin had centered and balanced it. He had drilled a hole from top to bottom and inserted a metal shaft. The rock rested on an old truck bearing. It was the rusting out of this bearing that resulted in the gate's failure to revolve. Complete with new bearings and shaft, it was set back into place on July 23, 1986. It failed in 2005 and was again repaired; however, it does not rotate with the same ease it once did.
  Coral Castle remains a popular tourist attraction. Books, magazines, and television programs speculate about how Leedskalnin was able to construct the structure and move stones that weigh many tons. Claims that nobody had ever seen Leedskalnin at work and that he levitated his stones have been repudiated.  Orval Irwin reportedly witnessed him quarry his stones and erect parts of his wall, and illustrated the methods in his book Mr. Can't Is Dead.  The Nemith Film Collection produced a short film documentary in 1944 of him at work.  Coral Castle's website states that, "If anyone ever questioned Ed about how he moved the blocks of coral, Ed would only reply that he understood the laws of weight and leverage well." He also stated that he had "discovered the secrets of the pyramids", referring to the Great Pyramid of Giza.
caption: A view from within Coral Castle.
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