Castillo De San Marcos ~ 1672
Saint Augustine, Florida U.S.A. - NE Corner - July 4th, 2017

Construction on the fortress was from 1672-1695. The native 
coquina (soft shell) stone was quarried from a local island. 
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_San_Marcos" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_San_Marcos</a>
<a href="http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/castillodesanmarcos1.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.exploresouthernhistory.com/castillodesanmarcos1.html</a>

History of Saint Augustine: Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain in 1513. (Christopher Columbus discovered North America in 1492 but actually landed in the Bahamas). Other Spanish explorers later found gold and silver in Mexico and Peru. The treasure was sent back to Spain in ships sailing in the Gulf Stream. Spanish settlements needed to be built in Florida to protect the Spanish Treasure fleets. King Phillip II of Spain sent Pedro Menendez to settle in Florida and drive out French garrisons recently established there. In September 1565, Pedro Menendez with 700 soldiers and colonists, landed here and founded St. Augustine, making it the oldest continually occupied European settlement in North America.
          Menendez successfully destroyed the French Fort Caroline at the mouth of the Saint John's River 40 miles north of St. Augustine and ended the French incursion into Florida. 
          St. Augustine settlers, isolated and often near starvation, lived in constant fear of attacks by pirates who roamed the coast. Diminishing supplies and increasing hostility of the Indians made life treacherous for the early settlers. 
          Englishman Francis Drake burned the village and wooden fort to the ground in 1586. The town was sacked again in 1668 by pirate John Davis. 
          Spain's Queen Regent Mariana realized that St.Augustine was the keystone in the defense of the Florida coast, so she ordered the construction of a new fort made of stone. In 1672, the Castillo de San Marcos was begun and took 23 years to complete. Originally the fort was covered with white plaster, some of which can be seen today. The towers in the four corners were plastered red. 
          The fort was built of coquina, a locally quarried soft shellrock. Coquina was easily shaped by artisans and did not become brittle and crumble under cannon fire. The fort, the city gate, and many homes in St. Augustine were made of coquina which is still evident today. 
          In 1702, seven years after its completion, English troops from South Carolina besieged the Castillo for fifty days. Fiffteen hundred Spanish citizens fled into the security of the fort and refused to surrender. The British finally gave up the siege and burned the town. This event is why there are no buildings older than 1702 in St. Augustine today. 
         The Spaniards rebuilt their settlement and erected a defensive earthwork on on its northern limit, fortified the walls around the city and strengthened the walls of the Castillo. 
          The English attacked again in 1740, this time by General James Oglethorpe of Georgia. He bombarded the Castillo and town for twenty-seven days before he also gave up and left. The coquina walls held firm, absorbing the cannon balls without breaking apart. 
England defeated Spain in the Seven Years War, and Florida was transferred to English control by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. England then divided Florida into two colonies, and St. Augustine became the capital of East Florida. During the American Revolution St. Augustine remained loyal to the crown. The entire Florida peninsula was returned to Spain as part of the negotiations ending the American Revolution in 1783.  
          They came back to an impossible situation. The border problems of earlier times were multiplied as runaway slaves from Georgia found welcome among the Seminole Indians, and ruffians from both land and sea made Florida their habitat. 
          Spain ruled for another 37 years known as the Second Spanish Period 1784-1821. During this time, the Spaniards had difficulty luring settlers from the mother country and other colonies to repopulate this area. 
          On July 10th, 1821, the Americans took over from the Spanish. In the 1830's, hostilities rose between Seminole Indians and the Federal Government. In October 1837 one hundred Seminole Indians, including Osceola, were captured under a white flag of truce just south of St. Augustine. The end of the Seminole War made Florida safe again for visitors who came to take advantage of the fine climate. In 1845 Florida became the 27th state of the Union.
          From 1875 to 1887, Indians from the Great Plains and the Southwest were exiled to Florida and imprisoned in the fort. The government sought to educate the Indians and allowed them some freedom of movement. These activities led to more progressive Federal Indian policies.
          During the winter of 1883-84 Henry M. Flagler, co-founder of Standard Oil Co.,  visited the city and was impressed with the charm and possibilities of the area. He later made a major impact on the architecture and economy of this historic city by building the Hotel Ponce de Leon, Hotel Alcazar, the Memorial church and more. 
          
History, plus 43 miles of white sand beaches bring over three 
million visitors a year to St. Augustine and St. Johns County. 

(1565-1763 ~ 1st Spanish)  -  (1763-1784 ~ British Period) 
(1784-1821 ~ 2nd Spanish) -  (1821-Present ~ American)   

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._augustine_florida" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._augustine_florida</a>           
fort fortress castillodesanmarcos coquinastone built16721695 usa whiteplaster towers fourcorners plasteredred saintaugustineflorida locallyquarriedsoftshellrock citygate wallaroundcity defense canons greengrass moat newall unitedstates oldestmasonryfort sky architecture july4th2017 white bird greategret