re-release of video slideshow on Fort Zachary Taylor, Key West FL

[cannonmn]

We re-did our previous release, this time with better imagery.  Fort Taylor still has lots of artillery, some still partly buried in concrete.  There are quite a few large shells and shot around as well, plus a Gatling gun and a 3" field gun ca. 1905.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bp4IJHkryA

[lance]

 cannonmn, i always look forward to watching your videos and pics, i might not post on all of them, but i do watch them. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, you are a cannon man for sure!!!!

[Ex 49'er]

Thank you for the slideshow. What a great way to see places on the other side of the continent without leaving the comfort of home. Is there an explanation of why some of the guns are buried?
Thankyou for sharing.

[cannonmn]

Is there an explanation of why some of the guns are buried?

Yes.  In the 1890's the old fort was upgraded for modern coast defense.  You can see that about half the fort is concrete, and modern-looking, and half is still antique brick.  At that time, long-range breechloading rifles were available and the old muzzle-loading guns were seen as junk.  They were put into the new concrete in order to reinforce it, make it more shell-resistant.  Also they didn't have to move the old muzzle-loaders very far to dispose of them.  It seemed like  a good idea at the time.  In fact it was.  If the old iron guns hadn't been encased in concrete, they would have been scrapped and we wouldn't get to see them there today.

[Graybeard]

I watched a show the other night about ghosts of Key West and it had a fairly good segment in it about the old fort and discussed the guy who dug out the cannons and other stuff that had been used as fill in the lower rooms when the upper two levels had been removed.

While the show was really about ghosts in Key West it was a good segment on the old fort and the cannons and stuff there.

[cannonmn]

The man's name is Howard England, if I recall correctly from magazine articles way back when.  He dug out a lot of the cannons and they were eventually preserved by electrolysis etc., which took years.  He was certainly a driving force in taking the old fort from from a derelict property to a funded, staffed State Park.

[Graybeard]

Yup that was the name. I had forgotten it but that is sure enough the man they mentioned. Seems he kinda spent a large part of his life digging out the cannons and other stuff at that fort. They had a clip of him digging up some cannon balls and showed a huge cannon being dug out and then it again after it had been restored and set in place.

[cannonmn]

Seems he kinda spent a large part of his life digging out the cannons and other stuff at that fort.

Throw ME in that briar patch, I can dig it!