For over 20 years, a Latvian immigrant named Edward Leedskalnin toiled with brains and brawn to carve and construct his one-of-a-kind monument. Working alone at night and using nothing but homemade tools, Leedskalnin eventually quarried and sculpted over 1,100 tons from the ground up. First he built a house out of coral and timber; then he gradually built the monuments for which he is famous. His unknown process created one of the world's most mysterious accomplishments.
Edward Leedskalnin immigrated into the United States at the age of 26 after he was left ‘standing at the alter’ of marriage. He lived in California and Texas before moving to Florida City, Florida about 1919. His work began, though no one is sure what motivated him.He had dropped out of school after the fourth grade, but never stopped learning. To each and every questioner as to how he did it, he would respond: "I understand the laws of weight and leverage and I know the secrets of the people who built the pyramids".
In the mid-1930s, Leedskalnin hired a truck and driver to move it to its present location on a 10-acre site near Homestead, Florida, where his work continued:
If you had visited Coral Castle in the 1940s you would have been greeted by a man weighing a mere 100 pounds and standing just over 5 feet tall. Since it is documented that no one ever witnessed Ed’s labor in building his beloved Coral Castle, some have said he had supernatural powers. Features such as a 9-ton gate that moves with just a touch of the finger, a Polaris telescope and functioning rocking chairs – all made entirely of stone – reflect the ingenuity and profundity of Edward Leedskalnin.
In fact, Edward may have been the first to understand LivinLux, Miami style!