What’s with all these forts? Even we are beginning to think forts are today’s pharmacies- every town has one or two or more! Take this one; never, ever used. Looks it too; unscathed and reasonably pristine as forts go. Built during the Civil War, Fort East Martello is small in size (likely due to not ever being completed); its few cannons now sit at Fort Taylor a few miles west and the structure is practically overshadowed by the Key West International Airport.

The fort roof, KW Intn’l Airport and Moi

While Key West remained a Union-controlled island during the Civil War, the majority of Key West citizens supported the Confederacy. With such a rift, it is perhaps surprising that no battles took place on or around the island. Having no use for the Fort once the war was drawing to a close, Fort East Martello was abandoned in its unfinished state by the Army.

Fortunately, sturdy old buildings with character and history make perfect museums and venues for art shows. In 1950, the Key West Art & Historical Society, with its own army of volunteers, cleared away years of debris and dust to open Fort East Martello as its first museum. With continued community support, the Society restored this national landmark in accordance with its original 1860s design. Today, visitors can explore the preserved battlement’s collection of relics from the Civil War, learn about the wrecking and cigar-manufacturing industries which shaped the Florida Keys, view the unique folk art of Mario Sanchez and other local sculptors.

For some reason this seemed familiar

Desk where those with talent would hand roll cigars

Each visitor receives a personal overview of the museum’s displays and layout. The timeframe of most of the small exhibits ranges from early-mid 1800s to early 1900s. I’m pretty sure the most popular, and the draw for many visitors, including us, is Robert the Doll. This thing is scary; over 2 ft tall, he belonged to Otto Roberts who as young children do, attributed all sorts of childhood shenanigans to his doll, “Robert did it.”

The doll’s face is very worn but the plaque described it originally as “clown-like”; that’s enough for me to think “scary”. We did as instructed and politely asked Robert if we could take his picture. Hey, the nearby screen scrolled letter after letter apologizing to Robert for not asking, then detailing the bad stuff that soon occurred upon returning home. Oh no, not going to step into bad juju; twelve later days all remains well.

Russ agreed to ask nicely if Robert was OK with us taking his picture

Doll house shows the interior of a Key West home in the mid 1850s

1940s -the early years of diving suits and air pump to the left

This Cuban chug washed up just a few years ago. Hard to picture it ever being seaworthy for 90miles

Multihull Cuban transport- probably washed up in Dry Tortuga area

Smather’s Beach is across the way and we knew it was the best and certainly the largest beach in Key West. In 2007 we stayed at the Sheraton across from the beach. We had time to kill before heading to dinner at Kaya’s Island Eats (another top rated dining spot), so a beach walk seemed like a great idea and something we’d hardly been able to do in the Keys.

Walked by what looked to be a gorgeous setup for a beach wedding

Homes on either side, canal in back and more private than before

We liked Venture Out so much (proximity to Key West, secure, quiet, easy access) that early on Russ checked into how we could extend our stay. We ended up adding 6 nites to our time at RV474 and booking 11 nites at RV105 through Jan 31. Canceled our very pricey week up on Long Key and pushed out our arrival at (the very affordable) Southern Comfort RV Park in Florida City where we also chopped off time at the end to make only a two-week stay. Florida City didn’t look appealing in the “fun things to do” department and Russ wanted to visit the Everglades for a few nights after Florida City. If you are wondering, “pricey” is $100/night (or more) and reasonable is in the $40-65 range. Northeast RVing is not cheap by any stretch and the FL Keys command top dollar for parks that often are mediocre at best.

Site 105 was a luxury spot on one of the resort’s many canals and I was happy Russ was the one who booked it, not me. Moving day, Jan 20, one month after we’d arrived- time flies uh? This was easy; a short drive through the resort and we got to practice departure preparations. We’d checked out the spot several times and knew we would fit perfectly. Headsets on. I park Bonny a few sites up and Russ positions Annie to back in. One of our new neighbors comes out (we have houses on both sides) and a guy in a golf cart hangs out to watch the show. Yes, a motorhome backing in is major excitement here in Denture Out (oh did I say that?)

Unfortunately for the crowd, the show was boring. That’s why we use headsets. 🙂 Only one almost oops when I forgot to look up and see that Annie was about to get acquainted with a tall palm. Kudos from the adoring crowd and we got hooked up, with chairs and awnings out in no time.