| Castillo de San Marcos, the
famous Coquina stone fortress was constructed by Spain beginning in 1672
to secure Spanish colonial interests along the peninsula of Florida.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was dispatched by the Spanish King
Philip II to eliminate the French colonial threat and to establish a
permanent Spanish settlement. The fort was completed in 1695.
Much more information can be found at the National Park Service web
site: http://www.nps.gov/casa/
The last photograph in this set shows some original graffiti scratched into an interior wall. The image is that of a sailing ship. |
 
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| Fort Matanzas, an outpost
of St. Augustine guarding the southern approach to Castillo de San
Marcos: This small fort was constructed between 1740 and 1742
close to the site where Pedro Menéndez ordered the slaughter of a
French Huguenot expeditionary force under the command of Jean
Ribault.
Much more information may be found at the National Park Service web site: http://www.nps.gov/foma/ Fort Matanzas is a great little fort. In some ways, it's more interesting than the much larger Castillo de San Marcos, 14 miles to the north. The environment around the fort has changed little in the last few hundred years and it's possible to imagine what life would have been like for a Spanish soldier rotating through on a 30-day posting. The park ranger in the photos to the right is dressed in the uniform of an artillery man. The photographs in this set are a mix of visits separated by a few decades. |
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| Colonial Spanish Quarter
represents Spanish life in St. Augustine around the year 1740.
It's like Colonial Williamsburg on a vastly smaller scale.
This set of photographs include an ecclesiastic scribe, a blacksmith, a carpenter etching horn, and an image of Spain colonial-era flag. Some additional information may be found at the City of St. Augustine, Department of Heritage Tourism web site: http://historicstaugustine.com/ |
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