19th-century hospital, cemetery found underwater near Florida Keys

Archeologists discovered the remains of a 19th-century quarantine hospital and cemetery submerged in the waters off of the Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys, officials said Monday.

The small hospital was used to treat yellow fever patients at Fort Jefferson between 1890 and 1900, the National Park Service said in a press release. Dry Tortugas staff conducted a survey in August of 2022 that led to the findings.

Only one grave has so far been identified at the underwater Fort Jefferson Post Cemetery, according to the NPS. Dozens of people, mostly soldiers stationed at the fort, may have been buried there.

The identified grave belonged to civilian John Greer, NPS said. He worked as a laborer at the fort and died there on Nov. 5, 1861, according to the headstone found by divers.

“This intriguing find highlights the potential for untold stories in Dry Tortugas National Park, both above and below the water,” said Josh Marano, maritime archeologist for the South Florida national parks, and project director for the survey. “Although much of the history of Fort Jefferson focuses on the fortification itself and some of its infamous prisoners, we are actively working to tell the stories of the enslaved people, women, children and civilian laborers.”

The 100-square-mile national park is made up of several islands in the Florida Keys, about 70 miles west of Key West, and can only be reached by boat or plane.

Fort Jefferson was used as a prison during the Civil War, according to NPS. As the population of prisoners, military personnel, slaves, engineers and support staff increased, disease spread, killing dozens throughout the 1860s and 1870s. Nearby islands were used as quarantine hospitals because there wasn’t enough space on Garden Key.

“Although the use of many of the quarantine hospitals on the surrounding islands ceased after Fort Jefferson was abandoned in 1873, the fort’s future use by the U.S. Marine Hospital Service between 1890 and 1900 again required the development of an isolation hospital on one of the keys,” NPS said.