Notice Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park ahead of you, also known as Fort Taylor, a Florida State Park and National Historic Landmark centered on a Civil War–era fort near the southern tip of Key West. Construction of this fort began in 1845 as part of a mid-19th century plan to defend the southeast coast of the United States after the War of 1812. The site was chosen years earlier: Thompson Island at the southwest tip of Key West was selected in 1822, and the plans by Simon Bernard and Joseph G. Totten were approved in 1836.
Two supporting artillery batteries, Martello Towers, were built to provide additional coverage; one of those survives today as the Martello Gallery–Key West Art and Historical Museum. The fort itself was named for President Zachary Taylor in November 1850, a few months after his sudden death in office. You should also remember that the United States Army Corps of Engineers leased enslaved labor from local slave-owners to build this fort and its neighbor, Fort Jefferson, producing an influx of enslaved peoples into the immediate area where there had been no large agricultural ventures before.
Picture the fort spreading out, and the surviving Martello Tower just beyond it.