Friday, December 11, 2009

St. Augustine and Castillo de San Marcos



Left Greg and Emily's for St. Augustine Friday morning and arrived in St. Augustine about noon. Not knowing much more than the fact that I wanted to visit the fort, I turned at the first visible sign advertising a fort. It was, in fact, the site of the old Spanish Fort Mose.

For brief period (1738-1752) runaway black slaves lived in what has come to be known as the first Fort Mose. Here the blacks were given their freedom in exchange for their allegiance Catholicism and the Spanish government.

Today there is nothing left of either of the two forts that were once here, they have been swallowed up by the waters of the everglade. A testimony to the every changing environment.

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied city in America, and is most famously represented as such by Castillo de San Marcos, the Spanish fort that was built over a 23 period that began in 1672.

The beautifully preserved fort open daily for visitors to walk over, around and throughout the entire fort. Castillo de San Marcos (and the entire city of St. Augustine) is a great family vacation day.

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