St. Augustine, FL
2.4.17
Warning!
This post contains a lot of pictures.
St. Augustine and the Castillo de San Marcos are just really interesting.
So, here we go...
If you want, you can just scroll down to the video and watch the historic canon demonstration.
But, if you want to see some more cool stuff... read on! 😉
Look for something written by each of the kids.
The kids are standing at the Old City Gate,
constructed of coquina in 1808.
St. Augustine was founded 42 years before Jamestown, in 1565.
It is the first permanent and oldest, continuously occupied European settlement in the continental US.
It was founded as a Spanish colony and remained in Spanish control until 1763.
Florida and St. Augustine in particular have a fascinating history...
The free Visitor Center was like a history museum.
This describes the statues to the left in the above photo,
not the cute kids by the ship.
"This is a portion of a hand-colored map depicting Francis Drake's attack on St. Augustine in 1586.
The map is the oldest item in the state archives of Florida."
St. Augustine struggled and remained through hurricanes, fires,
and attacks by pirates and English colonists.
Spain ceded Florida to Britain in 1763, only to get it back 20 years later.
When FL came under British control,
"after 191 years, the residents had 18 months to leave St. Augustine."
And, Florida was loyal to Britain through the American Revolution!
...and then,...
Florida became a state in 1845.
We visited the Kingsley Plantation a couple weeks later
and saw some of the effects these changes had on the "free blacks" living in FL.
Let's just say that FL becoming a US territory was not good for them...
More on that later.
Castillo de San Marcos
Attacks demonstrated the need for a more secure fortification, and in 1672,
the Spanish began construction on the Castillo de San Marcos.
Today, it stands as the oldest masonry fort in the United States.
Coquina is a sedimentary rock that is made up mostly of sea shells. The forts were made out of this for a few reasons. The stone was light and easy to carry, it was not very hard so it was easily shapable, and its full of air pockets, making it compressible. Because of this compressibility, cannonballs shot at the fort just stuck into the sides of the wall when they hit. The cannonballs could then be pulled out by the soldiers inside the fort to be fired back at the enemy.
-Jadan
This kind and informative volunteer is dressed in period clothing.
He asked how we knew he was from the Spanish colonial period...
Brie: Ok, so Mom guessed that he was from the Spanish period. I was going to say British. :) This friendly gentleman told us that you could tell what country a soldier was part of by looking at his cockade. See that bright red bow on his tri-cornered hat? That, is a cockade.
Different countries had their soldiers wear different colored cockades on their hats. For example, Spain's armies wore red cockades, Britain used black, and France white. During the Revolutionary War, the color of American's cockades changed a bit. Eventually they stuck with black because mother England did, but when France became their ally, they stuck white cockades in their black ones. And, France put black cockades on their white. A nice show of their alliance, don't you think?
Another interesting thing about the clothing back then: People covered themselves head to toe with clothes to keep germs away. You can't see it in the picture, but the nice "Spanish" gentleman is wearing a bandana under his hat that is tied in a knot at the back of his head. Just another way of covering up. Did it work??
Historic arms demonstration
Ellie: We went up to the top of the fort to see the historic arms demonstration
(a.k.a. people dressed like soldiers shooting muskets and firing a cannon).
The guy in the very back was giving the soldiers step-by-step instructions to clean the musket,
load it, fire it, and clean it again. So, it took a long time for them to actually fire.
(One of the "soldiers" was our friend from the last picture!)
The best part (I think) was when they fired the cannon. Once again, the soldiers cleaned it, "loaded" it (they didn't actually put a cannon ball in it or anything), fired it, and cleaned it again.
When they fired the cannon it made a huge noise and a "shot" exploded into the air.
Then, then wind blew the smoke all over us.
I really enjoyed getting to see the "soldiers" doing drills and firing muskets
and a cannon, just like they would have in the 1700's!
Brie: The second man from the left in the photo above is actually from Spain.
He had a nice accent, was funny and smiley, and seemed quite at home and in charge.
The Fort
Sentries??
18th Century Spanish bronze and cast iron cannons
On their flag is the cross of St. Andrew.
In 1702, about 1500 settlers crammed into the fort during a siege by English colonial forces,
and again in 1740, the fort protected the residents and soldiers
during 27 days of bombing by an English fleet.
The fort was used as a military prison during the Revolutionary War
and from the time of the Civil War throughout the rest of its operational history.
Although the fort has changed hands between countries several times,
it was always through treaty and agreement, not battle.
We saw signatures in the wall from 1888!!! And other years around that time.
It was so enthralling!!!! -Brie
Thanks for joining us on our exploration of this great historical and architectural treasure!
