19th-century quarantine hospital and cemetery found underwater in Florida
A cemetery and a quarantine hospital dating back to the 19th century were found underwater off Garden Key island in Florida’s Dry Tortugas National Park, the National Park Service announced.
Both locations were initially built on dry land on small islands near Garden Key, and then submerged over time by storms and the resulting movement of said small islands.
The cemetery, uncovered in a survey underwater that began in August 2022, has been identified by archaeologists as the Fort Jefferson Post Cemetery. The fort still stands as a historical site on Garden Key.
The only identifiable grave found underwater belongs to one John Greer, who is listed in the records for Fort Jefferson as a civilian laborer who died on Nov. 5, 1861.
While Fort Jefferson was abandoned by the Army in 1873, the site still served as a coaling station – including for the famous USS Maine, whose sinking in Cuba’s Havana harbor in 1898 sparked the Spanish-American War.
Military personnel, both those stationed there and those imprisoned during the Civil War, make up the majority of the interred. Several were civilians working on and at the fort, construction of which began in 1846 but was never completed before the Army abandoned it.
The hospital, meanwhile, was used between 1890 and 1900 to quarantine yellow-fever patients.
“This intriguing find highlights the potential for untold stories in Dry Tortugas National Park, both above and below the water,” said Josh Marano, a maritime archaeologist for the national parks located in southern Florida.
