20/01: Castillo de San Marcos
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
Picture perfect day today. The sun was shining, it was in the mid 60s and there wasn't much wind. It's also Martin Luther King Day which means that National Parks are free today and busy.
After several wooden forts were proved inadequate the Spanish built a more permanent fort. Construction of Castillo de San Marcos was started in 1672 and completed in 1695. It is built out of coquina, a rock that is naturally formed in the ocean from limestone and fossilized shells. Coquina is very soft when it is quarried and is left for one to three years to dry. Coquina was handy to build forts with because the heavy cannon balls would sink into the coquina instead of fracturing or breaking the structure.
When the Spanish walled the city in the 1700's this gate was the only way in and out of the city.
This is a model of the fort. Starting from the outside, there is the "glacis", a man-made slope giving the soldiers inside the fort a good view of area surrounding the fort; next is the moat which could be flooded with sea water; finally the walls of the fort. The corners protrude preventing blind spots.
The drawbridge.
The courtyard of the fort. The soldiers lived in the city and came to the fort each day, so there are no living quarters.
One of the storage vaults for gun powder and other ammunitions.
The original fort doors and couple of Spanish soldiers.
A few of the many cannons on display. Notice the design on the middle cannon.
Interesting picture Ed.
A view from the castle wall.
This school house was built more than 200 years ago out of red cedar and cypress. The building is encircled by a large chain, placed there in 1937, to help anchor it the ground in case of a hurricane.
The backyard of the school house contained a kitchen building. Think the chimney has seen better days as a chain is preventing it from falling down.
Wildlife ..... this fellow was digging around in the school yard.
The old drugstore was built in 1886 also out of cedar and cypress. Ed took the photo with his fish eye lens. Notice how the door is built on the corner.
This fountain is a replica of a fountain in Caños de San Francisco in Avilés, the birth place of Pedro Menendez, the founder of St. Augustine.
One of the trolleys we have been riding around town in.
Warden Castle was built in 1887 as the winter home of William Warden, a business partner of Henry Flagler and John D. Rockefeller. It was purchased by the family of Robert Ripley and became the first Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum.
After several wooden forts were proved inadequate the Spanish built a more permanent fort. Construction of Castillo de San Marcos was started in 1672 and completed in 1695. It is built out of coquina, a rock that is naturally formed in the ocean from limestone and fossilized shells. Coquina is very soft when it is quarried and is left for one to three years to dry. Coquina was handy to build forts with because the heavy cannon balls would sink into the coquina instead of fracturing or breaking the structure.
When the Spanish walled the city in the 1700's this gate was the only way in and out of the city.
This is a model of the fort. Starting from the outside, there is the "glacis", a man-made slope giving the soldiers inside the fort a good view of area surrounding the fort; next is the moat which could be flooded with sea water; finally the walls of the fort. The corners protrude preventing blind spots.
The drawbridge.
The courtyard of the fort. The soldiers lived in the city and came to the fort each day, so there are no living quarters.
One of the storage vaults for gun powder and other ammunitions.
The original fort doors and couple of Spanish soldiers.
A few of the many cannons on display. Notice the design on the middle cannon.
Interesting picture Ed.
A view from the castle wall.
This school house was built more than 200 years ago out of red cedar and cypress. The building is encircled by a large chain, placed there in 1937, to help anchor it the ground in case of a hurricane.
The backyard of the school house contained a kitchen building. Think the chimney has seen better days as a chain is preventing it from falling down.
Wildlife ..... this fellow was digging around in the school yard.
The old drugstore was built in 1886 also out of cedar and cypress. Ed took the photo with his fish eye lens. Notice how the door is built on the corner.
This fountain is a replica of a fountain in Caños de San Francisco in Avilés, the birth place of Pedro Menendez, the founder of St. Augustine.
One of the trolleys we have been riding around town in.
Warden Castle was built in 1887 as the winter home of William Warden, a business partner of Henry Flagler and John D. Rockefeller. It was purchased by the family of Robert Ripley and became the first Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum.