MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A large “Coral Castle” made of coral rock sits in Miami-Dade County — the result of one eccentric stonemason’s decades of work.
According to state archives, the whole story began in the early 1900s when the artist — Edward Leedskalnin, a Latvian man — suffered a breakup with his betrothed.
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His 16-year-old fiancée, Agnes Skuvst (whom he referred to as his “Sweet Sixteen”), reportedly called off their engagement the day before the wedding, citing the 10-year age gap between them and explaining he was too old for her.
As a result, the “heartbroken” Leedskalnin left Latvia for North America, where he traveled around for years before finally settling down in Florida.
There, Leedskalnin purchased an acre of land in Florida City and began carving large chunks of coral rock to form furniture. He hoped that Skuvst would one day come join him in Florida, where they could make use of the furniture.
In all, Leedskalnin sculpted over 1,000 tons of stone.
By the 1930s, more people began moving into the area, so Leedskalnin moved his sculptures to Homestead, where he arranged them to create different “rooms” — a bedroom, bathroom, dining room, children’s playroom, and a “throne room” with large rocking chairs for himself, Skuvst, and a small child.
However, Leedskalnin moved all of the pieces by himself. When asked how he did so, he would explain that he knew the “secret of the Pyramids.”
“The mystery in all of this is that Leedskalnin managed to do all of the labor involved with creating these masterpieces by himself,” a report in the state archives reads. “The furniture bears no discernible tool marks, and the elements of the castle intended to move do so with very little effort. The solid-stone rocking chairs Leedskalnin created could be rocked even by a small child, and the 9-foot front gate could be opened with the push of a finger.”
While the process might be a mystery to many, Live Science explains that he used tools like pulleys and winches to move pieces around, and while they were made of stone, that material was porous, making it much lighter than some would believe.
Regardless, Leedskalnin opened up the property as a tourist attraction called “Rock Gate Park,” though he later died in 1951.
After the property changed hands a few times, it was renamed “Coral Castle” after the materials Leedskalnin used, and it was officially added to the national Register of Historic Places in 1984.
A news article in 1983 tells that a manager at Coral Castle had learned Skuvst was still alive in Latvia, though she never came to see the monument that Leedskalnin had made for her.
Either way, the castle still stands as a tribute to her memory, and guests can tour the attraction for themselves.
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