"Fire from the Fort" Castillo de San Marcos National Monument by grandmaR

The Castillo de San Marcos was built between 1672 and 1695, and, under the Spanish, served primarily to guard St. Augustine. The Castillo has been occupied by a number of nations, but it has never been taken by military force.

The Castillo was made a National Monument in 1924 and became part of the National Park system in 1933. The park consists of the original historic Castillo fortress itself and 25 acres of grounds.

Fort with anchorage 2003

I saw the Castillo de San Marcos in 1954 when we drove down to Florida, but only saw it from the water during our trips up and down the ICW.

In December 2000, the soldiers on the fort fired the guns toward us in the anchorage - we thought of answering fire or waving a white flag !!! For a photo of this see the Things To Do tip

Looking landward from the top of the fort

When we came back in March 2001, the fort was closed for renovation, and was still closed the following fall. This picture shows the crane that was being used in the rebuilding.

When we were on our car trip in the winter of 2004-2005, I finally got to visit in person again.

I have additional pictures of the fort in travelogues.

• Pros:The oldest remaining European Style Fort
• In a nutshell:In the oldest city