Fort Matanzas National Monument
| Fort Matanzas National Monument | |||
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| Location: | Florida , United States | ||
| Next city: | St. Augustine | ||
| Surface: | 1.2 km² | ||
| Founding: | October 15, 1924 | ||
| Visitors: | 1,002,444 (2005) | ||
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The Fort Matanzas National Monument was build by the Spanish Fort near St. Augustine in Florida . Completed in 1740, it got its name from a massacre when Spanish settlers, led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, executed 250 shipwrecked Huguenots from France in 1565 because he had orders to kill all Protestants (matanzas, Spanish for massacre).
history
In 1740 James Oglethorpe besieged the Fort Castillo de San Marcos and the neighboring city of St. Augustine . The siege and also the supply of his troops took place partly over the mouth of the Matanzas River up the river. Immediately after the failed siege, the Spaniards began building a fortification on Rattlesnake Island, which was completed in 1742 with workers from Cuba . Their task was to monitor the estuary, also from the sea side. The marshy subsoil was stabilized with pine trunks on which the facility was built. Shortly before completion in 1742, the British tried again under the leadership of James Oglethorpe to penetrate the river's mouth with 12 ships inland. The attempt was thwarted by the fort, which was already well-defended. This incident was the only one in the fort's history.
After the Peace of Paris in 1783 , the Spaniards no longer had any interest in the fort and let it fall into disrepair. When the United States took over Florida, and with it the fort, it was in a state that was neither used to defend the estuary, let alone to accommodate soldiers. In 1916 work began on restoring the fort, which was declared a National Monument in 1924 . The fort has been administered by the National Park Service since 1933 .
In 1966 it was entered on the National Register of Historic Places . The fort is administered as a unit together with the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument .
tourism
The fort itself can only be visited by means of a ferry that goes to the island every day at operating times at 30 minutes past the hour. In 2005, 1,002,444 people visited the island.
swell
- 2006 Statistical Abstract, Public Use Statistics Office, National Park Service
- National Park Service, Listing of Acreages by Park 12/31/03
See also
Web links
- National Park Service: Fort Matanzas National Monument (official site; English)