Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)
Fossilized Coral
Visit and traverse the Marvin Dow Adams Waterway. Known as "The Cut", the removed limestone (fossilized coral) from this private enterprise not only created the watery canal that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Florida Bay, but revealed countless fossils that can be seen all along the canal's walls, especially near the 103.6 mile post marker bridge. Interestingly, excavator, Matthew Bernard "Barney" Waldin, was paid not in dollars, but instead for the limestone material he removed.
Polished, fossilized coral makes a beautiful and elegant building material as seen above
Seen here are just two examples of the nearly 200 Rodman, Columbiad and the largest (35,000lbs.) and most accurate 300-pound Parrott cannons that were buried with the battery wall during the fort's reconfiguration in 1889. Uncovered in 1968, many of these arms were cleaned and put on display. Then, in the mid 1970s, further excavation was forbidden, hence leaving these cannons in their original resting place as seen in these two photos
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