Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.
1 S Castillo Dr, St. Augustine, FL 32084
Saturday 9/17/2022
10:00AM Saturday- 1:00PM Sunday 9/18
Grandpa and the Cannons
Grandpa with Aidan and Evan Stallone
Aidan and Evan with the Cannons
Artifacts from the 1500-1600's
Pedro Menendez Ship
San Pelayo
Scale Replica
Castillo de San Marcos is such an amazing place to visit. Located in St. Augustine, Florida, the huge fort was built right on the intercoastal waterway. It is amazing to see how they built the entire structure out of coquina, a hard block made from seashells.
Standing on the ocean side looking at the fort, you can see the cannon ball damage in the side of the building. One of my favorite structures is the cannon ball furnace. It was used to heat cannon balls to over 1000 degrees before being launched at the enemy. It's amazing to stand at one of the oldest surviving masonry fortresses in the United States. In June 1740, James Oglethorpe sent his British ships to patrol the entrance of the Matanzas River. On June 24th, daily bombardments of the fort and town commenced, but the shells fired by Oglethorpe's cannons could not penetrate the coquina structure.(Schafer, 2018)
Castillo began construction in 1672. It was ordered to be built by the viceroy of New Spain after St. Augustine was attacked by buccaneer pirates (Schafer, 2018). The 100 pirates raided through the streets of St. Augustine and killed sixty people, kidnapped women and held kids at ransom. (Schafer, 2018)
Over the centuries, the fort was used by various leaders and even had its name changed in 1763 to Fort St. Mark. During the Peace of Paris in 1783 the name was transferred back and during the Seminole wars it was used as a prison to hold native prisoners captive.
My kids, Aidan and Evan, love looking at the cannons. It's hard for them to understand that a 8 pound ball of iron shoots out of it with a loud explosion. It's amazing to think of how they constructed those back in the day and the amount of work that had to go into it. The sound of one of these cannons going off must be ear shattering. The 8-12 lb. cannon balls could travel 1/4 mile with devastating power.
Overall, this was a great trip. My family had a great trip touring through the old city. He bought some small souvenirs and ate some pizza at the local pizza shop. What a great memorable experience. We will be back again!
Schafer, D. L. (2018). Chapter 7. In The history of Florida (p. 114). essay, University Press of Florida.
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