Fort Mose Historic State Park
| Fort Mose Historic State Park | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| National Historic Landmark | |||
 The area where Fort Mose once stood in the 18th century |
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| location | St. Augustine , St. Johns County , Florida | ||
| Coordinates | 29 ° 55 '39.7 " N , 81 ° 19' 30.6" W | ||
| Built | from 1738 | ||
| NRHP number | 94001645 | ||
| Data | |||
| The NRHP added | October 12, 1994 | ||
| Declared as an NHL | October 12, 1994 | ||
Fort Mose Historic State Park (formerly: Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose ) is a National Historic Landmark of the United States on the outskirts of St. Augustine , Florida . The park is also a state park .
history
Fort Mose, whose full name was Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose , was the first official African American settlement in what is now the United States. It originated when Florida was a Spanish colony. The Spaniards' promise to free slaves if they professed the Catholic faith resulted in thousands of slaves fling to Florida from neighboring British colonies , mainly South Carolina and Georgia. When a particularly large number of them took refuge in what is now the State Park, the governor of the colony, Manuel Montiano, had a fortified city built here in 1738, the military leader of which was Francisco Menendez of African descent and which the Spanish considered an important bastion against the latent military Threat from the British neighboring colonies served. When Spain ceded Florida to the United Kingdom in exchange for Havana after the Seven Years' War , the residents fled to Cuba. Due to its importance as a place of refuge for escaped slaves, Fort Mose is also regarded as a kind of forerunner of the Underground Railroad .
The state park
The site was declared a National Historic Landmark on October 12, 1994 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The fort has not been preserved. In a visitor center , however, you can find out more about the fort's history.
See also
- Slavery in the United States
- History of the African American
- Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
Web links
- Fort Mose Historical Society website
- National Park Service website ( April 5, 2008 memento on Internet Archive )
- Florida State Parks site
- Visitor center
Individual evidence
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Florida. National Park Service , accessed July 20, 2019.
- ^ Fort Mose Site, Second on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed August 8, 2017.