More exploring

Since we had been here before, we had done a pretty good job of taking in the local attractions. Somehow however, we missed a few of the National Park Service managed sites near to Saint Augustine. It’s hard for me to believe that we hadn’t figured out that Fort Matanzas National Monument was nearby.

The Spaniards had an outpost here since 1565 when they founded St. Augustine. The Spaniards had quarreled constantly with both the British and the French over who was entitled to these lands, and the Spaniards had to defend what they believed was their rights to the land as the first settlers. The French had established Fort Caroline on the inlet to Jacksonville to emphasize their claims to Florida – it actually stood on Spanish land. In late 1565 near the current day fort, Spanish forces attacked the French – on the first attack, 111 were killed – 2 weeks later another attack claimed 134. The river was thus named Matanzas – the Spanish word for “slaughter”.

In the early 1700’s the Spanish finally got around to building an actual fort on the inlet. Normally you are able to actually visit the fort and walk around its ancient ramparts. But sadly, the boat dock was damaged during Hurricane Dorian, and therefore the ferry to get to the fort on the other side of the river is not running. We’d hoped that the ferry would be back in service before we left the area, but no such luck!

We headed to St. Augustine to scope it out. Built by the Spaniards in the late 1600’s, Castillo de San Marcos (National Monument) is the oldest, and the largest, masonry fort in the continental US. Stone is not something that is prevalent in Florida – however near St. Augustine are immense quantities of Coquina – the Spanish word for Shellfish – a limestone made from the shells of sea life, and an excellent building material. We may have actually been here long ago, but it may have been before we kept track of our visits to sites managed by the various federal agencies – the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service.

We lucked out, arriving at about 3 o’clock to learn that their daily cannon firing demonstration took place at 3:30. At that time, the gun crew appeared, dressed in Spanish military uniforms from the time period. The actually conducted the demonstration speaking in Castilian Spanish appropriate to the time period as well. After the cannon went off – loud by the way – you could hear the echo resounding from the opposite shore. It turns out that the Coquina was an excellent building material that would last centuries, it also was nearly impervious to attack. Whereas normally forts taking cannon fire would see their walls crack and crumble, the Coquina would simply absorb the impact, the cannon ball just sticking in the wall.

We also stumbled onto the St. Augustine Lighthouse. Built in the 1870’s, it survived unlike most lighthouses in Florida. Because of the soft, shifting soil on the Florida coast, most brick lighthouses were so heavy that they would settle and eventually collapse. This one survived because its foundation was built from Coquina – the same material used to build the Castillo de San Marcos. 

At first the Woman said "I've climbed lighthouses before, I don't need to climb another one." So I asked if she minded if I just climbed up myself, and I promised not to take too long. Luckily she thought about it a little more, and decided she would tough it out and we would do it together. We climbed the 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse, taking in the spectacular view of the oldest city in North America.

Before leaving St. Augustine, we checked out their Night of Lights. For the last 26 years, beginning on Thanksgiving, the entire city is decorated from ground to rooftop with decorative lighting. National Geographic has named St. Augustine’s Night of Lights in the top 10 holiday light displays in the world. We found a nice pub, grabbed an appetizer and a beer, and waited for the sun to go down. It was worth the wait!

Talk to you soon.