We visited the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida, in early February, 2013. We toured various public areas of the fort and watched an excellent video presentation about the fort. In addition, we witnessed a group of volunteers firing one of the many cannons mounted on one of the four bastions of the fort. Adjacent bastions provided overlapping fields of fire that covered the adjoining curtain wall of the fort.
The fort is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Although St. Augustine was founded in 1565, the fort was not constructed until over one hundred years later in response to the 1668 attack of the English pirate Robert Searle and the subsequent English settlement of Charles Town, now Charleston, South Carolina in 1670. Construction began in 1672 and continued for 23 years. The fort was constructed of a local stone called coquina that was quarried across the harbor on Anastasia Island.
The fort was besieged by the English in November 1702. Approximately 1500 residents and soldiers held out for almost two months until the arrival of the Spanish fleet from Havana broke the siege. During this siege, both sides realized what a fortuitous choice the use of coquina in the construction of the fort had been for the defenders. The stone is so soft that it absorbed the energy from the cannon fire rather than shatter. One of the English attackers wrote that it was like firing cannon at cheese.
The fort was attacked again by English General James Oglethorpe in June 1740. This siege lasted 27 days and included blocking the Matanzas River and all roads in an effort to starve the people of St. Augustine. However, Oglethorpe's own supplies ran low before those of the 1600 people inside the fort.
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| View from entrance bridge |
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| Cannon fire demonstration |
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| Enlisted barracks |
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| External defenses and dry moat |
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| St Augustine lighthouse on Anastasia Island across Matanzas Bay |
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| Imagine 1500 people living in this enclosed space for two months |
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| Log wall extended west to the San Sebastián River |
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| Cannon line |
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| Arched ceilings provided support for cannon overhead |
The entrance fee is $7 per person and is valid for seven consecutive days. If it is available, parking at the lot adjacent to the Castillo is $1.50 per hour with a maximum of four hours. Additional parking is available several blocks away at the Historic Downtown Parking Facility for a flat rate of $10 per entry.
The park website is http://www.nps.gov/casa/index.htm.
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