el castillo heritage preservation report
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NATION
ALPARK
SERVICEHERITAG
EPRESERVATION
El Castillo
de
San Marcos
National Monument
A Project by R. Christine Turple
April 2009
El Castillo
de
San Marcos
National Monument
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In 1872, the United States took the first step to-
ward establishing what in 1912, the Ambassador
from Great Britain, Lord James Bryce, called the
best idea America ever had. (Hyslop 2009) The
founding of Yellowstone National Park marked the
unofficial beginning of the United States National
Park Service. Eighteen more years would pass before
another park came under the official protection of
the federal government. By 1900, five national parks
existed with three of them in California.
Parks were not the only resource coming under
government protection during the early days. In
1889, in calling for the repair and protection of the
Casa Grande Ruin in Arizona, Congress created the
first National Monument. A year later, the first Na-
tional Battlefields were designated when Congress
set aside the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Civil
War battlefields.
Finally in June, 1906, President Theodore Roose-
velt signed into law the Act for the Preservation of
American Antiquities. This law specifically stated
that historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric
structures, and other objects of historic or scientific
interest (Archaeology Online 2006) located on fed-
eral land were now under the protection of the Fed-
eral Government.
Additional legislation was enacted to regulate
hunting, logging, mining, and even automobile use
within the parks, (Dilsaver 1994) but the system of
managing the national parks, monuments, and bat-
tlefields as separate entities under the federals um-
brella of the Department of Interior, Department of
War, or Department of Agriculture was cumbersome.
With Theodore Roosevelts sign
ing of the Organic Act in 1916
the National Park Service wa
created.
Today, the U.S. National Par
Service manages 13,000 histor
cal structures, 26 million ob
jects, and many thousand mor
archaeological sites spread ove
more than 300 distinct unit
The Park Services acquisition o
nationally significant sites con
tinued unabated from its 191
inception through the 1930s
Franklin Roosevelts proclama
tion of 1933 added responsibilit
for all national monuments, an
cemeteries to the Service, bring
ing an additional forty-eight his
torical sites under one roof ove
night. Among those forty-eigh
additional sites was the Castil
de San Marcos National Monu
ment. (Schene 1987)
El Castillo de San MarcThe Best Idea America Ever HadThe National Park Service
El Castillo de San Marcos
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In 1513, just eleven years after Christopher
Columbus invaded the island of Hispaniola, Ponce de
Leon, under contract to the Spanish Crown, led three
ships on the first Spanish expedition northward from
the Caribbean. Landing on the Atlantic coast in the
realm of the Timucua people, he gave the land a
European name La Florida in honor of the Chris-
tian Easter Holy Week and the Feast of the Flowers
that coincided with his arrival. Believing La Florida
to be an island, he subsequently sailed south,rounded the tip of the peninsula at the Florida Keys,
and sailed northward, coming ashore just below
Charlotte Harbor in the territory of the Calusa peo-
ple. DeLeon lifted anchor just three weeks later and
made his return to Puerto Rico by way of the terri-
tory of the Tequesta people, near todays Miami.
(Milanich 1996)
More Spanish expeditions ensued in the fol-
lowing decades, but all attempts at colonization
failed. Failed that is, until in late 1561, rumors of a
French expedition to La Florida reached the ears of
the Spanish Monarch. Although Jean Ribault had
not yet sailed, news of his expeditions and stories of
French plans to establish colonies provided the im-
petus Spain needed to launch a new attempt at gain-
ing a permanent foothold in La Florida.
Several years of conflict followed between the
two nations. In 1562, Ribault and Rene de Lau-
donniere succeeded in placing a stone marker near
the mouth of the St. Johns River, north of St.
Augustine, but then travelled further north to South
Carolina where work on a fort was begun. Leaving
30 men behind to man Charlesfort, as he called it,
Ribault and de Laudonniere returned to France. The
Spanish Crown lost no time i
sending a ship to destroy th
fort. In 1564, de Laudonnier
returned to the St. Johns Rive
with a group of 300 men an
women French Huguenot
seeking freedom from religiou
persecution. In the Europea
manner, they built their fort in
triangular shape, with the twcorners facing the river, and th
apex facing south. With a moa
drawing in water from the S
Johns River, the fortificatio
named Fort Caroline was sur
rounded by water. (deQuesad
2006)
El Castillo de San MarcThe Early Years
Fort Caroline, 1564. Engraving b
Theodore de Bry based on drawing
Jacques LeMoyne.
Image courtesy of the
Florida Museum of
Natural History.
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Ultimately, under the leadership of Pedro
Menndez de Avils, the Spanish arrived at the
mouth of the St. Johns River on September 4, 1565,
and four days later, formally took possession ofLa
Florida. It was with this proclamation that the set-
tlement of St. Augustine was established. On Sep-
tember 18th, Menendez began a march north toward
Fort Caroline, and two days later, attacked at dawn
in a hard rain a rain that worked to their benefit by
driving the French lookouts from their posts.
With the French surprised, the Spanish easily
took the fort. One hundred thirty-two French colo-
nists were killed, and about fifty women and children
were taken captive. Laudonniere, the artist Jacques
LeMoyne, and 43 of his men fled, making their way
to the ships anchored nearby.
Ribault, returning from France with six hun-
dred colonists had shipwrecked some miles to the
south near modern Cape Canaveral. One group
made their way north by foot to an inlet 18 miles
south of St. Augustine, where, observed by natives,
were reported to the Spanish. Menendez arrived on
the scene with a company of soldiers, and ignoring
the French offer of surrender, led them behind a
dune and executed all but a dozen Catholics.
Two weeks later a second group of French, in-cluding Ribault, arrived at the same inlet. Menendez
again confronted them, offering to accept their sur-
render, and executing those who complied. The re-
mainder fled south. Later in that month, Menendez
learned of a third group of French encamped near
Cape Canaveral, and successful routed them as well.
(Milanich 1995)
Milanich, J. T.
El Castillo de San MarcClashes
Pedro Mendez de Aviles
Image courtesy of the FloridaMuseum of Natural History
Fort Caroline National MonumenMarch 2009
Photo courtesy of the author
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Following Menndez rout of the French, a se-
ries of nine wooden fortifications were constructed at
St. Augustine, but none were sufficient to withstand
attacks by foreign military forces or pirates. An Eng-
lish fleet of two thousand men led by Sir Francis
Drake landed in 1586 and burned St. Augustine to
the ground. In 1668 two Spanish supply ships
sailed into the harbor. Captured by pirate John
Davis, they were used as floating Trojan Horses.
The fort withstood the attack but sixty Spanish werekilled and the town was plundered. (deQuesada
2006)
Under the leadership of new Governor Don
Manuel de Cendoya, 1671 saw the beginnings of a
new masonry fort el Castillo de San Marcos. Mak-
ing use of the coquina on nearby Anastasia Island,
the soft stone was removed in great blocks and
transported by rafts to a site near the old wooden
fort where they were shaped and left to harden.
The 15 artisans brought in to build the fort
found themselves drastically short of labor. They
made use of the indigenous Guale from coastal Geor-
gia, and the Timucua and Apalache from Florida.
Although they were paid wages, their contracts were
frequently extended without consent. Local Spanish
peons and convicts were also set to work, and begin-
ning in 1687, eighteen slaves belonging to the Span-
ish crown joined the labor mix. The construction be-
gan in 1672 and work continued in intervals for
twenty-three years until 1695, when the newest Gov-
ernor, Don Laureano de Torres y Ayala, saw the last
stones set in place. It was August, 1695, when the
last workmen moved out the fort. (Historic Print &
Map Co. 2005)
In the decades followin
the forts completion and its sub
sequent additions, the Spanis
discovered that the Castillo d
San Marcos was constructed of
very special material. Cannon
balls did not shatter the coquin
walls, they simply absorbed th
balls. As one Englishman note
in 1740, during a siege, the na
tive stone will not splinter bu
will give way to cannon ball a
though you would stick a knif
into cheese. (Historic Print
Map Co. 2005)
El Castillo de San MarcConstruction
Cannonball scar in Castillo wall
March 2009Photo courtesy of author
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This characteristic of coquina, while providing
safety to its builders and occupants within, has pro-
duced something quite different for the people who
care for el Castillo de San Marcos today. Despite its
ability to withstand bombardment from cannonballs,
the Castillo and its attendant coquina seawall are
now under siege by a different kind of enemy
Nature.
Built in the mid-19th century by the Army
Corps of Engineers, the historic seawall was built to
protect the Castillo and its surrounding property
from storm surges, high tides, and hurricanes. It is
a part of a larger seawall system that extends 4,700
feet and affords the city of St. Augustine some pro-
tection from soil erosion and flooding. The National
Park Service owns about 1,350 linear feet, and the
remaining 3,400 feet is owned by the city. The sea-
wall is constructed of coquina, with Tabby used as a
bonding agent for the stones. Tabby is a type of ce-
ment made of lime, crushed oyster shell, sand, and
water. The seawall was capped above the high water
line with granite.
The seawall is approximately 6 to 7 feet
tall, and about 6 feet wide at the base. It narrows
from bottom to top and is about 3 feet wide at the
granite cap. The wall sits atop a coquina stone foun-
dation that is about 2 feet thick and 7 feet wide.
During its 160-year existence, the seawall has
undergone a number of reconstructive repairs due
largely to erosion caused by tides and storms. An
Historic Seawall Stabilization Environmental Assess-
ment was completed by the Na
tional Park Service in 2007. Th
assessment reported that most o
the parks seawall is in fair con
dition, but two sections are fai
ing. The southernmost 243 fee
of the seawall and 70 feet of th
seawall near the northeast cor
ner of the fort contain larg
cracks that have allowed seawater to penetrate the wall an
erode the soil. This has led t
the sinking of a portion of th
sidewalk adjacent to the south
ern section of the seawall.
In 2004, an engineerin
firm evaluated the condition o
the historic seawall in the south
ern part of the park. Their rec
ommendations for action in
cluded the option of the place
ment of fill on the seaward sid
of the seawall.
El Castillo de San MarcThe Enemy Today
THE SEAWALL
Seawall erosion
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Jehu Walker, the Facility Management Special-
ist at the Castillo de San Marcos, stated earlier this
year (2009) that funding has been procured for the
placement of riprap along the seawall in order to sta-
bilize it and minimize further erosion from the sea-
water. Riprap will be used, as repairing the actual
wall would be cost prohibitive. Jehu expects the
placement of the riprap to take about a month, and
work is expected to begin later this year (2009) after
the end of hurricane season. (Walker 2009)
In 1973, the National Park Service commis-
sioned a study of all their masonry forts to assess
their condition and to make recommendations for
restoration and/or rehabilitation. This report noted
the existence of serious vertical cracks in the cur-
tain of the fort, and states that preliminary investi-
gations by archaeologist George Fischer indicated the
cracks did not extend much be
yond the waterline in the moa
Also noted in the report is exten
sive erosion of the counterscarp
or the outer wall of the moa
and of the seawall. The ceilin
and the walls of the fort ha
been leaking to the extent that
room was built within one of th
forts rooms for storage of artfacts. In an attempt to stop th
leaking, the park service pave
the terreplein with Laycold
Laykold is a white asphalt coa
ing that did little to enhance th
appearance of the fort, but di
provide protection for the co
quina it covered. It succeeded i
slowing the flow of water into thwalls, but did not prevent it com
pletely. In this report, the au
thor mentioned that the superin
tendent of the Castillo de Sa
Marcos was considering at th
time hiring a mason as a perma
nent addition to the staf
(Holland and Jones 1973)
What this report did no
include was the reason for th
distressing vertical cracks in th
curtain. During the conversa
tions with Jehu Walker, h
stated that after the Nationa
Park Service acquired th
El Castillo de San MarcThe Problems
Coquina riprap near Fort MatanzasFebruary 2009
Photo courtesy of author
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Castillo in 1933, the moat was filled with water. It
was only sometime after this report was written, that
it was determined that the moat was not intended to
hold water, but was instead for the containment of
livestock. The water softened the ground under the
foundation, and the towers began to pull away from
the structure. (Walker 2009) A report by Campbell
Scientific in 1998 states that two of the four bastions
showed evidence of cracking since the early 1800s.
(Wright 1998)
The photograph below shows the southwest
bastion with a water-filled moat. The photograph is
part of the documentation collected in the mid-20th
century by HABS/HAER, the Historic American
states that the Park Service use
a mason to manually remov
plant material from the walls o
a regular basis, but later exper
mentation with herbicides re
El Castillo de San Marc
Buildings Survey/Historic Amer
can Engineering Record, the na
tions first federal preservatio
program that began in 1933
The photo was probably taken i
1955.
Yet another natural dange
to the Castillo appears innocu
ous, but is capable of inflictin
severe damage to the fragile co
quina. A report by University o
Georgia faculty Wendy B. Zomle
fer and David E. Giannasi i
2005 found 153 different specie
of moss, ferns, and grass grow
ing on the walls. The repo
Castillo de San MarcosSouth Bastion
Photo courtesy of National Park Service HABS
Floral growth on Castillo wallMarch 2009
More Dangers
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El Castillo de San MarcThey look with their hands instead of their eyes.
vealed that RoundUp brand proved to be the most
effective method of removal. (Zomlefer and Giannasi
2005) This was confirmed verbally by Jehu Walker.
(Walker 2009)
Another and possibly the most significant dan-
ger to the Castillo is one for which there is no easy
cure. As is the case with many historical structures
and prehistoric sites around the world, the Castillo
de San Marcos is most at ris
from the public who visits it.
According to Jehu Walke
the Castillo draws as many a
4,000 visitors per day. Althoug
there are many reminder
around the site asking visitors t
refrain from touching the fragi
shell stone walls, (National Par
Service 2009) it was obvious dur
ing visits in early 2009 that thes
reminders frequently go un
heeded. During an interview
Jehu confirmed that the publ
presents the greatest danger t
the Castillo when he said of th
visitors, They have a tendenc
to look with their hands instea
of their eyes. (Walker 2009)
In 2007 a Final Genera
Management Plan was release
as guidance for park manager
for the next 15 to 20 years. Fou
alternatives had been describe
in a draft version, and comment
from the public were taken. Th
National Park Service had in
tially preferred plan D, whic
provided for no new visitor cente
and no changes in parking. Pub
lic comments resulted in the re
Castillo de San MarcosVisitors look with their hands, not their eyes.
February 2009
Photo courtesy of author
THE FUTURE OF EL CASTILLO
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El Castillo de San MarcFuture Plans
vision of the preferred plan from Plan D to Plan C.
(National Park Service 2007)
This plan provides for the construction of an
offsite visitor center in the Spanish Quarter across
the street. The site under consideration is a vacant
lot formerly occupied by the historic Mary Peck
house, which was moved to a new location in 2004.
This alternative also provides for expansion of the
fort green ar-
eas produc-
ing a much
i m p r o v e d
view shed,
and removal
of modern
intrusions in
three of the
forts case-
m a t e s .
( N a t i o n a l
Park Service
2007) Ac-
cording to
park person-
nel, the
changes will be funded by a partnership consisting of
the National Park Service, the City of St. Augustine,and the State of Florida, with the bulk of funds being
federal. Both Park and City employees will staff the
visitor center. Jehu Walker stated that the City of
St. Augustine is eager for the project to begin.
(Walker 2009)
The Park Service has now determined that
maintenance of the coquina at this facility requires a
permanent full-time staff. E
forts are underway to hire a mas
ter mason and four additiona
people who will devote their en
ergy to preserving the physica
structure of the fort. One of th
first projects to be undertaken b
the new staff will be the re
pointing of the fort, which in
volves removaand replacemen
of grout. The re
pointing projec
is expected t
begin during fis
cal year 2010
(Walker 2009)
The communit
of St. Augustin
relies heavily o
the tourism in
dustry generate
by the Castillo
As the oldes
continually oc
cupied city on U.S. soil, it is on
of the few to have its own archaeologist. The addition of pe
manent stonemasons to the par
staff, and the construction of
new offsite visitor center for th
fort will help assure its contin
ued presence in this communit
for decades if not centuries more
El Castillo courtyardPhotosynthy
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The National Park ServiBibliography
Archaeology Online
2006 Archaeology-Online Features: An Act for the Preservation of American Antiqui-
ties Archaeological Institute of America.
deQuesada, A. J.
A History of Florida Forts. The History Press, Charleston, SC.
Dilsaver, L. M. (editor)
1994 America's National Park Service: The Critical Documents. Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc., Lanham, MD.
French, C. M.
2009 The Emergence of the Mission 66 Centers.
French, C. M.
2009 Email, edited by C. Turple.
Historic Print & Map Co. (editor)
2005 The History of Castillo de San Marcos. Historic Print & Map Co., St. Augustine,
FL.
Holland, F. R., Jr. and R. Jones
1973 Special History Study: Masonry Forts of the National Park Service. Historic
Preservation Team, National Park Service.
Hyslop, N. P.
2009 Impaired visibility: the air pollution people see Atmospheric Environment 43
(1):182-195.
Milanich, J. T.
1996 The Timucua. The Peoples of America. Blackwell Publishers Inc., Malden, MA.Milanich, J. T.
1995 Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. The University Press of Florida,
Gainesville, FL.
National Park Service
1995 Battling for Manassas: The Fifty-Year Preservation Struggle at Manassas Na-
tional Battlefield Park
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National Park Service
2007 Final General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement: Castillo d
San Marcos National Monument, St. Augustine, Florida. US Department of the Interior.
National Park Service
2009 Castillo de San Marcos National Monument: Self-Guided Walking Tour. U. S. D
partment of the Interior.
Schene, M. G.
1987 The National Park Service and Historic Preservation: An Introduction. T
he Public Historian9(2):6-9.Walker, J.
2009 Interview with Jehu Walker, edited by C. Turple. Recorded interview ed, S
Augustine, FL.
Wright, D.
1998 Monitoring Structural Cracks. Campbell Scientific Inc.
Zomlefer, W. B. and D. E. Giannasi
2005 Floristic Survey of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, St. Augustine, FCastanea70(3):222-236.
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