We are in St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental U.S., established in 1565 by the Spanish. This beats Hampton, the oldest continuously occupied English-established settlement founded in 1610 and Jamestown, the oldest permanent (but not continuously occupied) English settlement, founded in 1607.
We visited Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest stone fort in the continental U.S.
It was the windiest day of our trip so far.
 |
| Today's wind on the iWindsurf.com graph for St. Augustine Beach Pier. The blue line is the average sustained wind. The red line marks the gusts. |
Jamey says it's the first time he's been on a boat while seeing the following warning in the National Weather Service's forecast: HAZARDOUS BOATING CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST FOR MUCH OF UPCOMING WEEK.
It was the coldest we've felt so far. Though it was not the lowest temperature in degrees that we've had on this trip, the wind chill from the 30+ mph gusts that blew on us while we were standing on the fort by the water made it feel like it was.
Phoenix made a statement that I consider the best indicator so far that she is learning and appreciating the history that we have been relentlessly throwing her way: "Before I was English; now I am Spanish."
She was reading one of the placards in the fort that discussed how the Spanish were bombarded in 1740 by British troops who were based in Fort Frederica in Georgia. We had spent much of last week anchored by Fort Frederica and had learned about that fort's founder, General Oglethorpe, and about his unsuccessful attack on St. Augustine.
"Last week I wanted the British to win; now I want the Spanish to win," said Phoenix.
Imagine if a change in location could alter someone's allegiance that easily. Might there be less wars and more peace in the world?
_____________
Before we left for the fort, we visited the Teacher's Guide for the fort, accessed here under Curriculum Materials in the For Teachers section on the NPS website. The girls and I reviewed the guide's brilliant diagrams and used them to discuss the fort's strengths. We especially liked the cross-section of the fort found on page 4 of the Teacher's Guide. Using the cross-section diagram, we were able to look at what would happen if you were a soldier trying to get into the fort. We figured that a soldier would have to run up the glacis (hill), avoid musket fire from the covered deck, dodge cannonballs from the gun deck, cross two moats, and scale a very tall and steep wall. We looked at the fort's bastions and marveled at how it seemed impossible to avoid crossfire from soldiers positioned along the many angles provided by these diamond-shaped corners.
 |
| This picture shows one of the fort's bastions in the upper left corner. The moat was kept dry. During battles when the townspeople hid out in the fort, the domestic animals were kept in the moat. It could also be filled with sea water via flood gates in the seawall. |
 | |
| The fort's success in withstanding numerous attacks and bombardments is attributed to coquina, the stone of which the fort's walls are made. Coquina is a rare limestone found on Florida's barrier islands that is made of tiny shells compressed together over time into a soft but solid stone. Coquina was perfect for the cannon warfare of the time as it was so soft that cannonballs would bounce off the walls or be absorbed by the walls without shattering or cracking the walls. "The British described it as a knife through cheese," explained the park ranger. It also helped that the walls were built 12 to 19 feet thick. "So if the wall did get damaged six inches by cannonballs, there was still 18 and a half more feet of protection!" the park ranger continued. There were nine wooden forts in St. Augustine prior to Castillo de San Marcos, none of which lasted very long either burning, being washed away in storms or rotting. Nine! I guess with the Spanish Crown as your insurance company, it was ok that it took ten tries before they got it right. |
 |
| We had read how the second drawbridge (far right in the picture) was the fort's most vulnerable point as it took 15 minutes to close with five soldiers operating a windlass. Indigo had been expecting a much longer bridge and looked at the length of the drawbridge. "I could cross that in just a few seconds," she said. I watched her smile as she imagined dodging cannonballs, jumping onto the drawbridge while it was being raised, and running into the fort. That's Indigo, my no-fort-can-keep-me-out daughter! |
 |
| During one of the fort's sieges, 1500 townspeople and soldiers lived in the fort for two months. I would not want to be in charge of sanitation during a siege. |
 |
| Spanish cannons are beautiful. |
 |
| Historic Weapons Demonstrations are held on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The soldiers spoke in Spanish throughout this reenactment. |
 |
| Relaxing after a hard day at war. |
 |
| The girls' favorite part of the fort was a secret room, accessible only via a narrow tunnel (only Skye could walk through, the rest of us had to crawl). The room was sealed up and not discovered until 1832 when a cannon fell through the deck above. |
 |
| We could have gotten a mooring ball by the fort for $20/night, but watching the boats out there rolling and pitching around made us super happy that we did not. |
INDIGO'S REPORT:
The fort is so that the British cannot attack the village. All the village people go to Fort Castillo de San Marcos when the British attack. The Spanish created it for all the soldiers to live in the fort. It was created in Florida. The fort is a square with four corners sticking out. Those are the watchtowers. The Spanish started building it in 1565 and finished in 1665.
The Spanish did a few other wood forts before they did the stone fort. The British burned down the wood forts so finally they built a stone wall. The type of stone they used was rare. But the stone was special because when a cannon hit it, it did not crumble. The stone was called coquina. It worked really well.
I loved Fort Castillo de San Marcos because it had a ton of storage space, plenty of sleeping space and sixty cannons. They also had a cannon heating oven which was really cool.
The End
___________
CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS: The fort is a national monument run by the National Park Service. It is open every day except Christmas day from 8:45 am to 5:15 pm. Admission is $7 for those aged 16 and above, good for 7 days. <16 year olds are free. Our National Parks Annual Pass got us in. Aside from the curriculum materials I mention above, the Castillo de San Marcos website also has other great material including The Building of Castillo de San Marcos, a standards-based section with reading, writing and math activities designed for 4th-5th graders -- perfect for Phoenix!
No comments:
Post a Comment