How to fall in Love with a Latvian girl up to a National Treasure

Hello everybody. I've found these forums and thought it would be interesting to share with you my recent impressions when travelling to Florida. Me and my wife (not the Latvian one ) visited the "Coral Castle". Now it's a 'national treasure' in Florida and possibly in the US. It is one of the most intriguing sites in the whole of the United States. Read below, why...

I was surprised it has been built by a Latvian immigrant, named Edward Leedskalnin (written as Edvards Liedskalniņš in Latvian). When he was 25, he was engaged to be married to his one true Love, Agnes Scuffs, ten years younger than him. Ed called her "Sweet Sixteen". But Agnes was really a cruel (or stupid?) girl and canceled the ceremony just the night before their wedding. Ed's heart was broken for a lifetime, but since he really loved Agnes, he decided to dedicate the whole life to her, with some recognizable achievement.

Several years later, he immigrated to the United States, where he found work in lumber camps in Canada, California, and Texas. Ed's family came from stone Latvian masons, that's why working with native machinery wasn't a new thing to him. However Ed never was a great health guy, his height was just about a little over 5 feet (152 cm) and the weight of 100 pounds (45 kg). He also was not educated enough, but spent a lot of time in libraries.

The work lead to contracting a case of tuberculosis, after which Ed moved to the warmer climate of Florida around 1919, where he purchased a small piece of land in Florida City. In about 20 years he single-handedly built the Coral Castle, named by him personally as "Rock Gate Park", as a dedication to his True Love, a Latvian girl Agnes.

Incredibly, but he cut and moved huge coral blocks using only hand tools! Working alone at night, Ed eventually quarried and sculpted over 1,100 tons of coral into this monument. But even when the castle has been "finalized", it was not the end of the story. Noone knows for sure why Leedskalnin decided to relocate, one of supposments is that somebody decided to to build a subdivision near Ed's home, Ed didn't like it at all and moved to Homestead near Florida where he bought much bigger peace of land (about 40 ha). The second commonly held notion was that he wanted to relocate to a more populous locale after being badly beaten one night by hooligans looking to rob him, believing Ed has a treasure hidden in his castle.

Next three years moving the Coral Castle structures 10-miles to that location, using the chassis of an old Republic truck on which he laid two rails with the help of his friend's tractor. Yes, Ed lived a very simple life, he didn't even own a car.

Around the castle, there were built walls to help protect Ed's privacy. Many people have seen the coral carvings being moved along the highway, but no one has actually ever seen Ed loading the trailer. He was always working alone. When it came time to load and unload the coral stones, Ed always asked the trucker to look away. He gave polite, but cryptic answers to visitors' questions regarding his construction and moving methods, which to this day remain a mystery. Like: "It's not difficult if you know how." Mostly the work has been performed at night by lantern light, despite basing on the perfect understaing laws of weight and leverage, later Ed even built an AC Current generator. There is a real Secret behind all of that, which is also kept by Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids, and that is about how physically a weak and sick man can roll mountains up. An impressive example of will!

Nevertheless, some people have reported that they did glimpse him at work. One person claims to have seen the rocks move by themselves. Ed's neighbor stated he saw Edward singing to the stones with his hands placed on their surface. A group of young witnesses claimed to see coral blocks floating through the air "like hydrogen balloons." Of course, they all can't be considered as true.

In spite of his private nature, Ed eventually opened his monument to the public, charging ten cents a head to give tours of the grounds, explaining each structure in detail. He was a surprisingly accommodating host, even cooking hot dogs for visiting children in a pressure-cooker of his own invention. He also made money from the sale of his booklets ("pamphlets") and the sale of the land where U.S. Highway 1 passes the Castle. In result, he collected $3,500 in bills, they were Ed's lifesavings.

Besides of his astonishing corals work, Ed also constructed the "sun dial clock", which only showed time from 9 to 4 because that's what he needed (he said a man should work from 9 to 4). Many other features and carvings of the castle are notable. Among them are a two-story castle tower that served as Leedskalnin's living quarters, walls consisting entirely of eight foot high pieces of coral, a Polaris telescope, an obelisk, a barbecue, a water well, a fountain, celestial stars and planets, and numerous pieces of furniture. The furniture pieces are a heart-shaped table, a table in the shape of Florida, twenty-five rocking chairs, chairs resembling crescent moons, a bathtub, beds and a royal throne. Some of the more incredible of his works was an obelisk monolith weighing nearly 30 tons, twice the weight of any stone in the Great pyramid.

The "booklet pamphlets" described theories of magnetism, containing quite sketchy explanations of his theories on the interaction of electricity, magnetism and the body, mostly stating that scientists have incorrect knowledge of atomic structure and electricity. There Ed stated that all forms of existence are made up of three components, North and South poles and neutral particles of matter, and claimed he re-discovered the laws of weight, measurement, and leverage. Ed stated that these laws involved the relationship of the Earth to celestial alignments. Other writings are about Domestic and Political Views, Vegetable and Animal Life, and of course, his "Sweet Sixteen". Here is what Ed writes in "A book in every home":

The famous Rock Gate

Made 1928... Moved 1939... Born 1887 LATVIA

It seems not every Latvian even knows about the story, as any population doesn't accept heroes or genies in time. Setting up the forums I didn't even expect the post like this... Astonishing knowledge! Thank you very much for letting us all know!

Here is a documentary filmed on this topic:

Has anyone seen Agnese pictures, or knows anything more about her, going further out of the "official" information? I looked over the web, but there are NO PICTURES of her. Does she really exist? "As a verb "scuff" may mean: to scrape the feet while walking; shuffle. As a noun it becomes: "1. The act or sound of scraping especially with the feet. 2. A worn or rough spot resulting from scraping. 3. A flat backless house slipper."

In Latvian newspapers I've read some stories around the Coral Castle, but they DO NOT MENTION the original surname of that girl, I suppose they simply don't know the translation. As any girl knows, when she marries somebody, she takes the surname of her husband; the marriage was disbanded just one NIGHT before the wedding as you say, that means, Agnese preferred to live with her own surname in the last moment... May be she knew something as well? May be this relation to a "sweet sixteen Latvian girl" is not a coincidence/accident in this story???

How actually everybody knows that Ed has been built this castle because of that girl? If he was so "secret guy", he would rather not tell everybody about his lost attempt in marriage. Strange story!

This Agnes bitch was scared to visit that sacred place!

nothing can stop to get in love if the electric you get from opposit...

i wish all latvian girls to find the real love

and for me i wish it also...

America is built by such great immigrants, now most immigrants are the plebs from Mexico, Puerto Rico, China, Africa, etc. and they bring nothing to the culture except for consuming and destroying it.

That's how you really Fall in Love... Online bastards have no chance anymore to say "I Love You", being considered real!

This stuff we meet online seems not to be true in many aspects. If you are interested in Ed's story, get the 2005 book "The Coral Castle" (Koraļļu pils) by the Latvian author Andris Stavro. It also offers completed original Ed's writings in the end, translated by mr. Stavro in Latvian. The most important thing to understand Ed's feeling of life, is to read his writings. You will understand a lot, and may be this will give you a true inspiration.

Definitely, Latvia and latvians have its potential to be recognizable

He moved the stones with love!

Oh yes.......................