CORAL CASTLE

Edward Leedinskalnin, a Latvian immigrant to the US, was born in 1887. When he was 26, he was engaged to marry a girl 10 years younger than he. She called off the wedding on the day before it was scheduled and he never recovered. With his undying love, he went on to build a monument for her that defies belief.

Ed moved to Florida City, Florida around 1919 when he contracted tuberculosis. He was cured of the disease and he claimed that he was able to do it himself with magnetism. He was always a very slight man and never weighed much more than 100 pounds. He began carving things out of coral. He single-handedly quarried and carved over 1,100 tons of coral rock. He made a castle and dozens of related items out of the stone. In the mid 1930's, when Florida City was going through a population boom, he single-handedly moved all of the rock 10 miles to another rural spot in South Florida. No one knows how he did it. He worked almost exclusively at night by lantern. When asked how he moved and placed these huge stones, he always replied that he discovered the secret of the pyramids. Some say he could levitate the stones like hot air balloons. Leedinskalnin only had a fourth grade education. He survived by writing books on magnetism and charging 10 cents a person to tour his property. He died in 1951 at the age of 64.

The monument to his love is called Coral Castle and is located just north of Homestead. It is on the National Register. Billy Idol wrote and recorded a song called "Sweet Sixteen" which was inspired by Edward's story. The video for the song was filmed in the Coral Castle.