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Downtown Destinations
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Probably the most-visited historic site in North Florida is the Castillo de San Marcos, in St. Augustine. Fort Matanzas was built south of the Castillo to "guard the back door to St. Augustine." Both sites are now operated by the National Park Service.
To link directly to the National Park Service, with more pictures of these sites, use the last button on the left, then navigate to the NPS site.
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Corner of fort viewed from Mat…
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Corner Turret
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View of fort and city, from an…
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The Castillo is the best-preserved example of classic Spanish fortification architecture and the oldest stone fort in North America. Typical Spanish fortress design was a square with diamond-shaped bastions at each corner, allowing cannons to be strategically positioned for deadly crossfire.
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Construction took 23 years, completion was in 1695. The walls were built with coquina quarried on Anastasia Island and floated across the bay on barges. Coquina stone is formed under great pressure, from sand and the petrified remains of tiny shellfish.
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Nine earlier forts had been constructed of wood and were easily destroyed by enemies. The Castillo was built to better defend the settlement of St. Augustine from attacks by pirates and maurauding Englishmen who wanted to liberate the town from Spanish hands.
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Courtyard from South Wall
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Flagler Memorial Presbyterian …
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Spain regained St. Augustine in 1784, but Florida had changed. Renegade slaves, outlaws, and Indians swarmed the territory. The Spanish were beset by border disputes and colonial unrest, and they ceded Florida to the United States in 1821.
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Built by Henry Flagler in 1889, this Venetian Renaissance masterpiece memorializes his daughter, who died in childbirth. Flagler, his wife, daughter, and granddaughter are buried in a mausoleum attached to the church. Open Monday through Friday, 8:30 until 4:30.
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