How Do You Live Out Here?

National Park Service rangers, researchers, maintenance workers, and their families live year-round on Garden Key, mostly in small apartments built within the fort’s casemates with their own kitchen, bedrooms, living room, and bathroom. Staff members usually work 10 consecutive days, and on their days off they may stay to catch up on sleep, do laundry, and go fishing, or they may go to Key West to shop and see a movie. Former National Park Service site manager L. Wayne Landrums called it a fairly remote marine paradise, though some quickly grew tired of the isolation and felt imprisoned. In the 1800s, everyday life for military personnel and families was far from idyllic, and at times as many as 2,000 people lived in crowded conditions on Garden Key. The military garrison relied on a bland diet of salted pork, salted beef, beans, and bread, supplemented by seabird eggs and fish, shrimp, and shellfish from surrounding waters, so the arrival of ships carrying fresh vegetables, fruit, and beef was a joyous occasion.