The Ghosts of West Martello Tower

The Brawny Sherpa and I walk rather randomly through the old streets of Key West, heading south toward the water after cruising the cemetery. We’re expecting something brighter after confronting the damp, overgrown, decay of the graveyard, and we are delighted to discover the White Street Pier. We stop to appreciate the AIDS memorial commemorating residents who died from the disease.

From there, we notice a marker that an African cemetery was nearby, filled with people held captive on ships involved in illegal slave trade. Held in squalid conditions before the boats were intercepted, many died. Survivors, we learn, were taken to Liberia.

Suddenly we are wondering about Florida, and Key West’s, role in the Civil War. We also wonder about the brick structure we are facing. Was it a prison of some sort?

We soon learn that West Martello Tower, now possessed by the Key West Garden Club, was a fort occupied by Union troops during the Civil War. Having become a state in 1845, Florida seceded, and a number of Key West citizens were apparently Confederate sympathizers. I realize again how much I don’t really know about the Civil War or about slavery in the United States.

The misery of those poor captured Africans follows us as we tour the grounds of the tower. Art on the site contrasts with the lush greenery. A teachable moment has emerged from our curiosity about this place’s past. Beauty and careless evil can too easily coincide. We emerge from this destination in the Florida Keys more pensive.

—Lori Tripoli