castlesandmanorhouses: Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, Florida, USA.www.castlesandmanorhouses

castlesandmanorhouses:

Castillo de San Marcos,
St. Augustine, Florida, USA.

www.castlesandmanorhouses.com

Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Located on the shore of Matanzas Bay, construction began in 1672, 107 years after the city’s founding by Spanish Admiral and conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, when Florida was part of the Spanish Empire.

After Britain gained control of Florida in 1763, St. Augustine became the capital of British East Florida, and the fort was renamed Fort St. Mark until the Peace of Paris (1783) when Florida was transferred back to Spain. In 1819 Spain signed the Adams–Onís Treaty which ceded Florida to the United States in 1821 and the fort became a United States Army base which was renamed Fort Marion. In 1942 the original name, Castillo de San Marcos, was restored by an Act of Congress. The fort was declared a National Monument in 1924 and after 251 years of continuous military possession, the fort was deactivated in 1933 and the site was turned over to the United States National Park Service.

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