A team of archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 19th - century quarantine hospital and a small burial site on a submerged island in the Dry Tortugas national park , near Florida .
The site was get word in August 2022 , by the national park ’s cultural resources stave , alongside the National Park Service ’s Submerged Resources Center , the Southeast Archaeological Center , and a University of Miami alum student while they were conducting a survey . earlier , the structures existed on dry Din Land , butclimate changeand tempest have caused the island to vanish below the wave .
The quarantine infirmary had been used to sequester and treat xanthous fever patient fromFort Jeffersonon the nearby island ofGarden Key , between 1890 and 1900 . Fort Jefferson was one of America ’s big nineteenth - 100 forts , and was originally occupied by US soldier to protect the cargo ships lane between the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida . give its geographic fix , the site was not only idealistic for protective cover , but it also wait on as a harbor for expire vas to restock or find shelter from tempest .
An unsigned watercolor of a quarantine hospital and adjoining cemetery an island in the Dry Tortugas. Image credit: National Park Service
Over the long time , the universe of the fort grow to admit the military , prisoner , enslaved people , engineers , and reenforcement staff , as well as jack and their household . But as the population grew , so did the jeopardy of disease . In exceptional , yellow feverishness , communicate bymosquito bite , was a significant issue for the inhabitants .
The island witnessed several stern outbreaks of the disease , which kill dozens of people during the 1860s and 1870s . Given Garden Key ’s limited space , the surround islands were used for quarantine hospitals , which were often crudely construct . Nevertheless , their world aid bring down the transmission ofyellow feverand therefore saved liveliness .
Many of these hospital lay off to be of usage when the military machine abandoned the fort in 1873 , but then some continued to go when the US Marine Hospital Service took over the area between 1890 and 1900 .
According to historic records , dozens of people , mostly soldier from the fort , were eat up in the burial ground on the subaqueous island , but so far the investigator have only name one grave . This belonged to a civilian named John Greer who was hire at the fort and died in November 1861 . Greer ’s reason of death remains unknown , but his grave site has been marked by a particularly prominent slab ofgreywacke , which is the same type of Edward Durell Stone used on the first floor of Fort Jefferson . The slab that has been used to commemorate Greer ’s tomb is shaped like a headstone , and his name and date of destruction are score on it .
“ This challenging find highlight the potential for untold stories in Dry Tortugas National Park , both above and below the water supply , ” Josh Marano , marine archeologist for the south Florida internal Mungo Park and project manager for the survey , said in astatement . “ Although much of the account of Fort Jefferson focalize on the fortification itself and some of its infamous prisoners , we are actively work to tell the stories of the enslaved people , women , minor and civilian manual laborer . ”
The work to study and describe other individuals eat up on the island , and to hear more about Greer , is ongoing . The infirmary and the burying ground have now been distinguish as archaeological resources , so they will be monitored by members of the South Florida National Parks Cultural Resources Program .
