Fort Caroline National Monument

In the stories about Great Britain and Spain vying for control of present-day Georgia and Florida, one may wonder where Europe’s other major power – France – is. It turns out that they were “here” much earlier. Though much of the Anglo-Spanish conflict occurred in the early 18th century as Britain began settling further south along the Atlantic Coast, back in the 1650s, the French had built a fort in northeastern Florida along the St John’s River. They named it Fort Caroline.

There were very different reasons people – and nations – had for settling in the “New World”. For many from England, it was for religious freedom or similar reasons. People came to stay and make a new life. Though some sought wealth, it was not the overriding reason. The Spanish, however, were on a quest for gold and other riches. Though they did establish permanent settlements, those mostly existed to protect and support the search and exploitation of the resources. France was somewhat in the middle. Fort Caroline was a settlement of mostly Huguenots fleeing prosecution in France. Though some certainly sought the wealth available in Florida, most were here to stay.

Unfortunately, to the Spanish, Florida was theirs and theirs alone. That included present-day Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. This French intrusion could not stand, especially with all of the heretics in it. The Spanish continually harassed the French at Fort Caroline until the French had had enough. Reinforcements arrived from France and the French now set sail for St Augustine for a showdown.

They chose to sail during hurricane season in Florida, without checking with the National Hurricane Center first. Yep, the fleet got nailed by a hurricane and run aground well south of St Augustine lucky to be alive. The Spanish now took advantage of the weakened defense at Fort Caroline and attacked. Already low on supplies and food, the small garrison opted to surrender. The Spanish accepted their surrender, then proceeded to slaughter all but a handful of women and children.

Pleased with that work, the Spanish then turn south, looking for the shipwrecked remnants. Once found, they slaughtered all but those professing to be Catholics. The Spanish word for massacre is “matanzas” and the Spanish celebrated their war crimes by naming the nearby inlet and river “Matanzas”. Just under a century later, they would build Fort Matanzas on this spot to protect St Augustine from the British.

Fort Caroline National Memorial is rather interesting. It is fully contained within the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and as such, the National Park Service did not give it a webpage of its own. Rather, it is a subpage of the Timucuan webpage. To make things more interesting, the Visitor’s Center for Timucuan is actually on the grounds of Fort Caroline (the Visitor’s Center serves both sites).

As for the actual fort, historians aren’t really sure exactly where it was located. The park site (with a complete reconstruction of the fort) is a best guess for its location. Oh, and the reconstructed fort? No accurate drawings or maps of the original fort seem to have survived, so it is also a best guess as to what the fort looked like.

Nonetheless, it is interesting to walk around the rather small interior of the fort, climbing up on the embankments, looking out over the St Johns River, and imagining what life what like in the mid-1600s. The fort is located a short distance from the Visitor’s Center on a path that passes some replica Timucuan structures and a canoe. Other trails branch off from the main one, some following the river back around the rear of the Visitor’s Center and one making a short nature trail that loops back to the parking lot. In addition, addition, several longer trails are available on a large parcel of the Timucuan preserve nearby.

Fort Caroline was by far the oldest fort location that I visited on this trip. It’s about the only remaining reminder of the French presence in the area.

Steve