St Augustine - Castillo de San Marcos

castillo_small.jpg (11942 bytes)

The Castillo de San Marcos, which protected the city, is a good place to begin a St. Augustine visit.
After the town and its wooden fort were burned by Francis Drake in 1586 and then sacked in 1668 by pirate John Davis, a stone fort was begun in 1672 and completed 23 years later.

Constructed of coquina, a local soft shellrock which absorbed the impact of cannonballs rather than shattering, the Castillo was never captured in battle. In 1702, the Castillo withstood a 50-day British siege. Before leaving, the British burned the town, and there is no building in the city older than 1702. A 27-day siege by Gen. Oglethorpe in 1740 also failed.

(Click on preview photo to open full photo in a new window; close new window to return here.)


High cannonball-absorbing walls, and a moat, ensured the Castillo was never captured.		Outer breastworks made a land assault on the Castillo difficult.		A commanding overlook of the Matanzas Bay protected the sea approach to St. Augustine.


Regular musket and cannon firing demonstrations are held.		Geronimo was imprisoned in one of the ground floor jail cells.		Today, the Castillo is a popular site to relax and view the city's waterfront.


Depiction of the old City Wall, of which only the gates remain.		A portion of the old city wall has been reconstructed near the Castillo.