Site #8 – Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos (Fort Marion)- Saint Augustine, FL
Site Visit #8 - March 11, 2021- Lavinia Lenssen
The
Overview of Site: Our final site visit was to the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, a fascinating and hard-to-miss structure along the Saint Augustine bayfront. The address to the monument is 1 S Castillo Drive, Saint Augustine, FL, held on former occupied Seminole and Timucua Land. The fort has stood guard in Saint Augustine for over four hundred years, since the late 1600s. It is known today as the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It has been in the hands of several different countries over the years, along with the city itself. The fort has been in control by the Spanish, British, Confederate U.S, and becoming a United States National Monument (National Park Service). While it has been attacked many times, it has never fallen to the ground, it still remains standing today and is a historic tourist destination for visitors coming in from around the world.
Source Link: Click here for more information!
Artifact #1:
Caption: The first artifact from the Castillo de San Marcos that I wanted to highlight is the unique drawbridge structure that leads to the entrance of Fort Marion. The drawbridge served as a way to get across the moat that existed at the time.
Artifact #2:
Caption:
The second artifact that I'd like to highlight is what appears to be a former back entrance or "escape door" outside the Castillo de San Marcos. The old construction plans of Fort Marion included this door. Though it is sealed up now and was filled in to prevent future access, the stones of the door are still visible.
Exterior Photo #1:
Caption: Found on the @visitflorida Instagram, "Visit Florida" is the top official tourism planning source in the state. The aerial exterior image of The Castillo de San Marcos encourages all history buffs to come to visit this site, where the "Nation's Oldest City" should at the top of the bucket list, especially given that Saint Augustine is the longest continually inhabited European-founded city in the United States.
Exterior Photo #2:
Caption: Though not as illustrious as the first exterior photo, I like this one that I took because of the clear bright blue sky and the flag that is blowing in the breeze. This photo emphasizes the durability of the stone/coquina walls of the fortress.
In-Conversation Image #1:
Image Source Link: Click here for the link!
Brief Statement: From the official National Park Service government website, the first image in conversation with our site visit that I wanted to highlight was a map. This map is a part of a collection of various maps and drawings associated with the Castillo de San Marcos over the past several hundred years. Drawn by Colonel John Palmer in 1732, this was a British spy map used to spy on the Spanish who had ownership over the Fort at the time.
Brief Statement: The second in-conversation image that I wanted to highlight was of another map, simply because I find them fascinating. This time I chose a map that was drawn out only five years after the previous one. This plan of the Castillo was drawn out before the renovations began, to restore the fort to make it look the same now as it did 500 years ago.
Passage/Concept ENG202:
Our site visit to the Castillo San Marcos reveals parallels with The Surrounded by D'Arcy McNickle, which as a work of literature that we studied in class, it relates to ENG202. Learning about the Apache, Plains, and Seminole Indians from a variety of guest brochures and lectures by the park ranger who gave us our tour I could see how the book relates to the fort. Regardless of tribe, Native Americans have been held as prisoners in this monument at one point. In the same way, in The Surrounded, the characters living on the Flathead Indian Reservation felt emotionally and mentally held captive. The motif of hopelessness was an underlying difficulty in Native communities through the history of not just Saint Augustine but all over the country.
A quote that stands out to me from the book is:
" When he spoke...the old lady would pretend that she did not hear because it made her feel sad to be told that the past was evil" - Narrator in The Surrounded by D'Arcy McNickle
Creative Component:
Ten Years Ago
Lavinia Lenssen
Ten years ago, and only four foot six
I stood with my class atop of the fort
The little fourth-graders in little cliques
Cheered as cannonballs flew out of the port
As a reenactment for all to share
These walls of coquina never struck down
Ten years later, never thought I would care
to live and thrive here someday in this town
Ten years later now only five foot three
I didn't grow much in height but grew in love
with what my home by the fort offers me
A treasure rich in history, centuries of
Ten years later, I sit with my best friend
Marveling over all it stood to defend
The final creative component that I chose for my digital archive was a sonnet once again for the 7th time. I think that this academic endeavor has inspired me to write poetry for pleasure as well. This poem was motivated by a field trip that I went to in the fourth grade, which would be about 10 years ago now. We all took a field trip to Saint Augustine and I remember how marvelous and spectacular it felt to stand at the top of this grand structure. But as an elementary school student, I never really comprehended whatever happened here. However, I do remember that the natural park service workers performed a re-enactment for our class. Fourth grade was also the year I met my best friend to this day, and a couple weeks ago for spring break she came to visit me in Saint Augustine and we're talking about how ironic it was that we were having a picnic at the very place we had our field trip a decade later, never knowing that I'd end up going to college here.
A funny, yet educational music video about Castillo can be found here!
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