To me, this is one big monument to stalking. The local tour and pamphlets heavily push a ‘love story’ background to the whole thing. Ed was dumped the day before his wedding by his 16 year old fiancĂ© back in Latvia. After coming to Florida he supposedly built this place as a monument to his ex-fiancĂ©.
Whatever the case, it’s a cool little tourist trap to hit along the way. . .
The obligatory “heres where you're at” sign. . .
. . . one of many life sized pictures of Ed, this one being at the front turnstile. Seems angry to me. . .
. . .a map of the Coral Castle site. . .
. . .looking towards Coral Castle and the landscaping from the front gate. . .
. . .most of the stone was brought in from elsewhere, but the newer sections were quarried from this area. . .
. . .the South Wall. . .
. . . Coral Castle is registered with the National Register of Historic Places. . .
. . .Ed used to charge 10 cents for a tour of the grounds. . .
. . .the front entrance of Coral Castle (the signs were added when the site was transformed to a true tourist trap). . .
. . .the door bell. . .
. . .looking in through the front door. . .
. . .the obligatory “if you hurt yourself you're on your own” sign. . .
. . .the stairs up to Ed's apartment. . .
. . .another lifesized cutout of Ed, standing in his apartment. Still looks angry to me. . .
. . .looking around the apartment. . .
. . .the view across Coral Castle from Ed's apartment. . .
. . .underneith Ed's apartment, he had a workroom to store all his tools. . .
. . .one of the scenic pieces of coral on the grounds. Looks like there's a monkey head near the center. . .
. . .Ed's cooking stove. . .
. . .looking across the grounds from the cook stove. . .
. . .a heart shaped table, estimated to be 5000 lbs. . .
. . .“Repentance Corner”, supposedly intended to be a place where Ed's bride would repent and think about how she hurt Ed should she ever return to him. . .
. . .looking out from “Repentence Corner”. . .
. . .Ed's beds. They are just as comfortable as they look. . .
. . .a shot of the 20foot tall Cresent Moon on the east wall. Also on the wall was a carving of Mars and Saturn. . .
. . .the North Wall tower. . .
. . .the sun dial in the middle of the grounds, which can keep time within a couple of minutes betwee 9am and 4pm. . .
. . .looking towards the Moon and Planets carvings from the sundial. . .
. . .the Polaris Telescope on the North Wall, which is said to be perfectly focused on the North Star. It stands 25 feet tall. . .
. . .the Florida Table, 20 foot long and surrounded by 10 chairs. The hole where Lake Okeechobee looked like it was added after the fact. . .
. . .across the grounds looking from the ”Gratto of Three Bears“. . .
. . .walking out around through the North Gate. The North Tower and the Saturn carving at the top. . .
. . .looking towards the North Wall from the outside. . .
. . .looking towards the Cresent Moon carving, the 9 ton gate, and the Obelisk from the outside. . .
. . .looking through the 9 ton gate, which used to be able to opened with little effort (when it was functional). . .
. . .the Obelisk from outside of the wall. . .
. . .looking back across the Florida Table and the rest of the grounds. . .
. . .some of the scenic plantlife on the grounds. . .
. . .inside the gift shop, a certificate showing the registration of Coral Castle in the National Register of Historic Places. . .
. . .photos from the early days of the site. . .
. . .scenes from “Wild Women from Wongo” were shot onsite in 1958. . .
. . .and this was really the biggest surprise to me -- many pictures of Billy Idol who visited back in the 80s when filming the video for Sweet Sixteen (a song apparently written about Ed's story). . .
. . .he looks happy (and a tad out of place).