Trifter

I remember taking a trip when I was 8 years old with my mom and sister to San Marcos . We examined the separate rooms, the barracks for the troops, and the secret dungeons buried deep within the fort. Well, I had that pleasure once again today when I explored the grounds 23 years later.

Photograph by Author

After the 1668 attack of Roberyt Searle(English pirate), Queen Regent of Spain, Mariana ordered a masonry fortification be erected in order to protect the city. October 1672,  construction began on the Castillo de San Marcos. The Castillo de San Marco’s was known from 1821 to 1942 as Fort Marion and Fort St. Mark from 1763 until 1784 while under British control.

Photograph by Author

The Original Door at the Entrance of Castillo de San Marco

Photography by Author

Photography by Author

Photograph by Author

What’s fascinating about the architecture is that it’s made entirely out of Coquina, or rather crushed shells and mud. The builders were brought in from Havana, Cuba and the coquina was “quarried from Anastasia Island , and ferried across to the construction site. Construction lasted twenty-three years, being completed in 1695.”

The fort measures 50 feet long on each side with a grand 30-foot tower towards the back of the fort near the hot shot furnace.

Photograph by Author

The hot shot furnace was used to heat cannon balls for the purpose of shooting them at wooden vessels. This building was built by the United States in 1842-44 when the specific side of the moat was filled and guns were mounted on the stone arcs behind the walls of the sea.

San Marco

Photography by Author

The courtyard is the center of the fort connecting the barracks, general quarters, latrines, dungeons, and a chapel. However, nestled in the deepest darkest area of the fort was a door that had been sealed for 100 years until United States soldiers opened it up around 1819. It was written that they found several skeletons in the small, dark, and dampened  room. One will never know what was released from the room that day. It’s just a bit bizarre that the Spanish took so much time to seal it up. Creepy!!

The Barracks

Several more sleeping quarters were built later by the British, consisting of a second level supported by wooden beams and planks.

Cannon Fired in 1702

Photography by Author