David Castleton (Author) on Nostr: The Coral Castle, in Homestead, Florida, is a complex of over 1100 tons of oolite ...

The Coral Castle, in Homestead, Florida, is a complex of over 1100 tons of oolite stone. It was all created by one man - Edward Leedskalnin - a Latvian immigrant with a fourth-grade education. The Castle includes a nine-ton swing gate, which is so perfectly balanced it can be opened with the push of a finger. It also boasts a 'moon pond', consisting of three enormous blocks that represent the phases of the moon, and a Polar Telescope, a 25-foot-tall, 30-ton tower that follows the north star. Other blocks represent the planets and there is a sun dial calibrated to noon on the winter and summer solstices. Edward claimed to have built his monument using "the secrets of the pyramids and ... the ancient builders in Peru, Yucatan and Asia", but as he usually worked under cover of darkness, there is little evidence of how he actually constructed the Coral Castle. He used no mortar, with the structure held together by weight and gravity. #weird #architecture #folklore #history #art