Cannon Blasts Signal Living History Lessons
Castillo de San Marcos Has Withstood Time, Attacks and Tourists
Nov 3, 2009
One sure attention-getting sight and sound is the ceremonial firing of the fort's black powder cannons.
It wouldn't do to blast a cannonball more than a mile in present-day St. Augustine, Fl. So specially trained, stand-in soldiers -- garbed in Spanish Empire blue, white and red -- instead stuff five pounds of bread into the iron barrel and let it fly.
Evacuating the Firing Zone
Before the big bang, park rangers and other castillo crew shoo dawdlers from the long-dry moat beneath the fort's eastern gun deck where the demonstration takes place. The visitors scurry past the hot shot furnace, built by the U.S. Army in the 1840s to heat cannonballs to a red-hot glow.
The sizzling cannonballs were fired with surprising accuracy to set marauding wooden ships ablaze.
This fort, history says, was never lost in battle.
Forging a Fort From Fossils
The Spanish started constructing the masonry fortress (the oldest one in America) in 1672 to defend Florida's territorial capital and Spain's claims in the New World.
For building material, the Spanish looked across Matanzas Bay to Anastasia Island for coquina, a soft, porous limestone formed from fossil shells and coral, according to The St. Augustine Record.
Living Where the Sun Didn't Shine
Despite the sun-kissed surroundings, the fort's rooms remain dark and dank. It surely isn't a place most people would want to live, and indeed, soldiers only manned the fortress when under siege.
But throughout its service, the castillo did duty as a prison, too. History says it housed:
- Chief Osceola and other Seminole Indian leaders;
- more than 500 Apaches after the Civil War;
- and some 200 Spanish-American War deserters.
Seeing The Fort For Free
Walking over the drawbridge and into the castillo costs $6 for visitors 16 and older. Paying adults can bring along children 15 and younger for free.
Also free: strolling around outside, gazing up at the watch towers and closely inspecting the hot shot furnace, replica cannon barrels, rough but sturdy walls and lapping bay waters.
One particular wall, just north of the furnace, is so pockmarked it's easy to imagine firing squad targets meeting their bloody end there. But park personnel say no such executions took place; the holes are the work of vandals.
Serving as a Living History Classroom
Decommissioned in 1900 and named a national monument in 1924, the Castillo San Marcos (also known for a time as Fort Marion) is far from a decaying stone shell. Visitors relive history through ranger talks, museum exhibits, weapons demonstrations, re-enactments and special events.
For more information, call (904) 829-6506 or visit the National Park Service's Web site.
 |
 |
 |
 |
