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Standing in what was once the moat surrounding the original town of St. Augustine, dressed in authentic Spanish military uniform. While above on the Castillo wall, a group of actors perform a firing of the canon in front of a group of onlookers at the Castillo De San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida. Last time I visited this fortress, in 1986, access to the park was free, now it carries a $6.00 entrance fee.

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Throughout its history, the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, with its elaborate double drawbridge entrance suspended above what is now a now dry moat spanning an impressive 40 feet, has been closely intertwined with the city and the neighboring structures which served as the city's outer defenses for many years - Fort Mose to the north and Fort Matanzas to the south. The Castillo and the town serve as outstanding reminders of the might of the early Spanish empire in the New World. Given the architectural details, it's hardly surprising that Castillo de San Marcos actually took 23 years to build (construction began in 1672 and was completed in 1695). Fabricated of coquina, a virtually indestructible limestone comprised of broken sea shells and corals, the walls of the fortress remained impenetrable through 300 years of enemy shelling and pounding by violent storms. Castillo de San Marcos is constructed alongside picturesque Mantazas Bay, with its sleek modern-day sailing vessels.

Coastal Florida was a major field of conflict as European nations fought for control in the New World. As part of this struggle, Fort Matanzas guarded St. Augustine’s southern river approach. The colonial wars are over, but the monument is still protecting - not just the historic fort, but also the wild barrier island and the plants and animals who survive there amidst a sea of modern development.

The Early People
Archaeological research tells us that at least 12,000 years ago, long before Europeans came to Florida, wandering hunter-gatherer people arrived. They lived a simple life, following the great herds of mammoths and other megafauna and gathering the wild grains, nuts, and berries they found in their seasonal wanderings. No one knows what these people called themselves, but to archaeologists, they are known as Paleo-Indians, the earliest people.

The Massacre of the French
In 1564 a group of French Protestants known as Huguenots settled in Spanish-claimed territory near present-day Jacksonville. When the king of Spain found out about them, he sent an army under Don Pedro Menéndez to get rid of the French and to establish a Spanish colony in La Florida. This was the beginning of St. Augustine. The park commemorates the killing of nearly 250 French Huguenots by the Spanish, an act that gave the river and inlet the name Matanzas, Spanish for "slaughters". One hundred seventy-five years later, the fort was constructed to help protect St. Augustine from a new threat - the British.

The First Spanish Period (1565-1763)
The founding of St. Augustine in 1565 began 235 years of Spanish control of Florida. The most significant factor of the First Spanish Period was the threat of the British in the Carolina and Georgia Colonies which led to the building of the Castillo de San Marcos in 1672-1695, and after two failed sieges by the British, the building of Fort Matanzas in 1740-1742 to guard the southern approaches to the city. Read More . . .

The British Period (1763-1784)
During the Seven Years War (French and Indian War), the British captured Spanish Cuba and the Philippines. In order to get these valuable colonies back, Spain was forced to give up Florida. England held Florida for a mere twenty years, however. At the end of the American Revolution, the Second Treaty of Paris returned Florida to Spain.

The Second Spanish Period (1784-1821)
Spain's aid to the American colonies during the Revolutionary War was to be her last act as a great power. By 1800 Spain's fortune was waning. There was little money to maintain her Florida colony, let alone the outpost fort at Matanzas. Erosion and rainwater took their toll. Fort Matanzas was already in poor condition by 1821 when Florida was purchased by the United States through the Adams-Onís Treaty.

The American Period (1821 to the Present)
The American Period in Florida was a time of conflict-- the Seminole Wars, the Civil War, the Spanish American War. It is also a time of change as Henry Flagler's railroad and luxury hotels brought wealthy tourists to St. Augustine, people who began the preservation of the historic Spanish forts which led to their protection as national monuments.

Standing guard at the Castillo De San Marcos historic site in St. Augustine, Florida - September 09, 2011.