#16, The Castillo de San Marcos, St Augustine

 February 22, 2024

Sprawling over twenty acres and constructed of more than 400,000 blocks of native coquina stone, the Castillo is an imposing structure.  Built by the Spanish between 1672 and 1695, with walls 14 feet thick and around 30 feet tall, the fort endured heavy fighting but never fell. 

The fort has a long and complicated history.  It changed hands six times, and was in the possession of four different governments; the Spanish, the British, the Confederate States, and the United States.  At the beginning of "Maria", the first book in Eugenia Price's Florida trilogy, Maria and her British soldier husband, David, have just arrived at the Castillo in St. Augustine.  The year is 1763.  Spain has relinquished Florida in exchange for Havana so the Spanish are leaving by the shipload every day.  British soldiers occupy the dank rooms at the fort, but as David is ill, Maria, a strong and enterprising woman goes into the town of St Augustine and arranges to rent a house there so she can better care for David.  Below you can see one of the rooms where the soldiers would have slept, ate and relaxed between their duties.

The arched ceiling of these rooms called casements), provided more support for the floor above, so that heavy cannons could be mounted above. 

In addition to being used as guardrooms for the soldiers, these were also used to store provisions.  From food to ammunition, these supplies were for both those in the Castillo as well as in the city.  In the various rooms they were able to store up to 20,000 cannonballs! 

Guns of all sizes seemed to be mounted everywhere.  There was some explanation about mortars, cannons and howitzers and their various uses, but I perceived them all as cannons.  Even though I don't know a lot about them, I still find them impressive. 

The inner portions of the Castillo were accessed by crossing over two draw bridges.  This larger, second drawbridge took three soldiers 15 minutes to close.  It was left open unless there was a threat of danger, but the first drawbridge, which was shorter, was closed each evening.

On the two water-side points of this ancient star-shaped fortress are round towers.  Depending on the source, they are either unnamed, or referred to as bell towers or watch towers.  The first one is low enough that one can see out of the opening, making it likely that it was a watch tower.

The second one doesn't have a bell, but also doesn't have steps or a raised floor.  The large openings would seem to point to its use as a bell tower. 

In the above pictures you can see the coquina, the unique building material that was used on the fort, as well as on a large majority of the buildings in Colonial St Augustine.  Coquina was made up tiny shells and other organic debris, pressed together.  It was mined in block form.  Often the builder, or a subsequent owner of a building would plaster over the coquina to make a smooth surface.  In time the plaster begins to come off, taking much of the coquina with it.  Portions of  the fort are beginning to fall apart because of that, as well as from people handling it.  Below, a closeup of coquina.

During my visit on a Thursday afternoon there were scads of kids in several school groups.  Because of that I skipped some areas and didn't try to read everything, but instead enjoyed the overview of this national treasure, so full of rich history.