Dry Tortugas National Park Visitor Center on Garden Key

The Dry Tortugas Visitor Center on Garden Key is a little different from visitor centers you find in other National Parks. In most cases, the visitor center is the first place where you stop; the central focus of the park; a place where you come for information or to sign up for tours. At Garden Key, the visitor center is a place that you stumble upon when exploring Fort Jefferson. It is likely to be empty of park Rangers, and even the souvenir store is not open at all times of the day. This is because the central focus of Garden Key is the immediate area near the boat dock and the grounds in front of the fort entrance. You are more likely to find park Rangers as they meet and greet guests arriving on the daily ferry than at the Visitor Center. There is even a small shack near the dock where you can pick up dozens of different brochures on topics ranging from Boat Permits and Mooring Buoys to those on the different keys and the history of Fort Jefferson.

The Dry Tortugas Visitor Center is housed in two of the fort’s casemates (large rooms for artillery pieces) and serves largely as a small museum and book/souvenir store. Exhibits in one casemate cover the military history of the park, and a number of artifacts found on the island are on display.