Visit Florida - Worth the Drive 2008 - (Page 28) 28 WWW.AAA.COM/ VISITFLORIDA >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> and the Spanish. Still, a significant reconstruction program makes Fort Caroline an interesting stop. Reconstructions include the fort itself, period-style cannons, ovens and Native American huts. Don’t overlook the park’s Timucuan Preserve Visitor Center, which offers a well-done exhibit on Native American life. mass called “Rattlesnake Island” that overlooks the Matanzas River. The Spanish built the fort to control Matanzas Inlet, a back-door waterway into St. Augustine. Typically, only a few soldiers were housed here, although their numbers jumped to 50 or so in times of peril. Today, you can visit Fort Matanzas National Park (904-471-0116, www.nps.gov/foma) and tour the island fort. Back on the mainland, you can take a nature walk through a maritime forest. Note that while you can reach the park by car, the fort is accessible only via a free ferry service (ferries leave from the park every hour on the half-hour from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.). Day 3: St. Augustine Dating from 1672, Castillo de San Marcos (904-829-6506, ext. 227, www.nps.gov/casa) is the oldest masonry fortification in North America. It was built to protect, and to intimidate. Overlooking St. Augustine Inlet and the Atlantic Ocean, this fort, situated on what is now a 20-acre park, boasts all the accoutrements of war: four bastions, a moat, a drawbridge and a shot furnace used to heat cannonballs which would, in turn, set wooden ships ablaze. Constructed of coquina (a type of local shell) and now a National Monument, the fort twice proved strong enough for its Spanish builders to hold off attacks by the British. During one such onslaught in 1702, the Castillo housed all 1,200 residents of St. Augustine, along with 300 soldiers, for two full months. As Florida changed hands – to the British in 1763, back to Spain in 1784 and, finally, to the U.S. in 1821 – the fort remained vital to military endeavors: It served as a Confederate outpost during the Civil War but was eventually secured by Union troops. The Castillo was finally decommissioned in 1900. As impressive as Castillo de San Marcos is, it was not the only fort to secure St. Augustine during the Colonial period. Fort Matanzas lies only 15 miles south of Castillo de San Marcos, on a tiny land IF YOU GO > Amelia Island Tourist Development Council (Fernandina Beach), 800-2AMELIA, www.ameliaisland.org > St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors & Convention Bureau, 800-653-2489, www.getaway4florida.com > Visit Jacksonville, 800-733-2668, www.visitjacksonville.com Fort Matanzas, near St. Augustine http://WWW.AAA.COM/VISITFLORIDA http://www.nps.gov/foma http://www.nps.gov/casa http://www.ameliaisland.org http://www.getaway4florida.com http://www.visitjacksonville.com
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