St. Augustine, FL
March 31, 2022
The Castillo de San Marcos is a National Park Service site that represents 450 years of United States history from the time the Spanish founded the first colony up to the present day. The fort is made of coquina stone and stands at the edge of the Oldest City, overlooking both the town and the water. The Castillo housed citizens of St. Augustine in 1702, during a siege by the British from Charles Town. It once again fell under siege by James Oglethorpe in 1740. The Castillo has only traded hands through treaty, never through conquest. The Castillo was also referred to as Fort Marion by the British. After the 1700s, the fort was used to incarcerate various groups of indigenous people. In more modern times, the fort was used by the Coast Guard for training and patrol during WWII.
Castillo De San Marcos
Artifact 1: Emergency Door
In the Castillo's original design, the area in the center of the photo was an emergency exit door. To distinguish where the door is, look for the trapezoid-shaped keystone, and the area beneath it is the door. The door was likely closed up by those who later used the Castillo and rebuilt the interior rooms.
Artifact 2: Hotshot Furnace
This device was used by soldiers to heat cannonballs that would set enemy ships on fire. First, a soldier would load many cannonballs into the furnace and tend to the coals. Second, they would wait for roughly 30 minutes until the cannonballs glowed red, and then remove them with a pair of tongs. Third, they would file them smooth and carry them to the seawall. Soldiers at the Castillo never used hotshot, though they did drill for it.
Image in Conversation 1
This is a picture of the Spanish American War Memorial in Plant Park in Tampa. This old cannon reminds me of the cannons at the Castillo because it's also a well-maintained relic of past warfare. I was always amazed by the cannon when my family and I would go downtown, and when I first came to St. Augustine, I was amazed by the cannons at the fort. I grew up surrounded by historic artifacts, and I love that St. Augustine can evoke these memories in me.
Image in Conversation 2
This is a drawing of Fort Mose, another Spanish settlement in the St. Augustine area. Fort Mose no longer stands as the Castillo does, but the current site commemorates the settlement's history. Fort Mose was the first free Black settlement in the US. Unfortunately, it wasn't preserved as the Castillo was because it wasn't made of coquina. The decay of Fort Mose versus the longevity of the Castillo demonstrates how important coquina is as a building material in St. Augustine.
Literature in Conversation
"Our neighborhood is too small for us to play those kinds of games."
-Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
In the novel, Lauren and her entire neighborhood are forced to live inside walls to protect themselves from the violence outside. After reading this, the story of how all of St. Augustine had to pile into the Castillo to escape the British siege was more poignant than when I'd heard it before. The novel's first-person perspective puts the experience of living inside walls in more simple, emotional terms. The first section of the novel makes me more capable of imagining what the experience in the Castillo may have been like.
Creative Response
Bay - For Matanzas Bay
Hotshot - For the hotshot furnace
Mortar - For the materials the Spanish used
Moss - For the moss growing on the fort
Ledger - For the ledger art
Coquina - For the unique building material
Marion - For when the Castillo was named Fort Marion
National Park Service - For the NPS and their care of the facility
Unconquered - For the fort that has never been taken in a military operation, despite many attempts
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