Fort Matanzas National Monument

Fort Matanzas National Monument (Template:Langx) is the site where the Spanish built a fort. It was designated a United States national monument on October 15, 1924.<ref name="AranaWaterbury1999">Template:Cite book</ref> The monument consists of a 1740 Spanish fort called Fort Matanzas, and about 100 acres (0.4 km²) of salt marsh and barrier islands along the Matanzas River on the northern Atlantic coast of Florida. It is operated by the National Park Service in conjunction with the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in the city of St. Augustine.

History

Fort Matanzas was built by the Spanish in 1742 to guard Matanzas Inlet, the southern mouth of the Matanzas River, which could be used as a rear entrance to the city of St. Augustine. Such an approach avoided St. Augustine's primary defense system, centered at Castillo de San Marcos. In 1740, Gov. James Oglethorpe of Georgia used the inlet to blockade St. Augustine<ref name="Manucy1945">Template:Cite book</ref> and launch a thirty-nine-day siege. St. Augustine endured the siege, but the episode convinced the Spanish that protecting the inlet was necessary to the security of the town.<ref name="Quesada2006">Template:Cite book</ref> Under Gov. Manuel de Montiano's orders, construction of the fort began that year and was completed in 1742.<ref name="HendersonCommittee1989">Template:Cite book</ref> Engineer Pedro Ruiz de Olano, who had worked on additions to the Castillo de San Marcos,<ref name="Kornwolf2002">Template:Cite book</ref> designed the fortified observation tower.<ref name="Kaiser2008">Template:Cite book</ref> Convicts, slaves, and troops from Cuba were used as labor to erect the structure, which was sited on present-day Rattlesnake Island<ref name="Service1968">Template:Cite book</ref> and had a commanding position over Matanzas Inlet.<ref name="Chatelain1941">Template:Cite book</ref>

The fort, known to the Spanish as Torre de Matanzas (Matanzas Tower),<ref>Arana Waterbury 1999, p. 134.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is a masonry structure made of coquina,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a common shellstone building material in the area.<ref name="(U.S.)1897">Template:Cite book</ref> The marshy terrain was stabilized by a foundation of pine pilings<ref name="Kaiser2008" /><ref>Arana Waterbury 1999, p. 95.</ref> to accommodate a building Template:Convert long on each side with a Template:Convert high tower. The standard garrison of the fort was one officer in charge, four infantrymen, and two gunners,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> though more troops could be stationed if necessary. All soldiers at Fort Matanzas served on rotation from their regular duty in St. Augustine. Five cannon were placed at the fort—four six-pounders and one eighteen-pounder.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> All guns could reach the inlet,<ref name="Kaiser2008" /> which at the time was less than half a mile away.

In 1742, as the fort was nearing completion, the British under Oglethorpe approached the inlet with twelve ships.<ref name="Marley2008">Template:Cite book</ref> Cannon fire drove off the scouting boats, and the warships left without engaging the fort.<ref name="Ivers1974">Template:Cite book</ref> This brief encounter was the only time Fort Matanzas fired on an enemy. Spain lost control of Florida with the 1763 Treaty of Paris, and regained control with the 1783 Treaty of Paris. With the Spanish Empire falling apart, Spain spent little effort maintaining the fort after this time. When the United States took control of Florida in 1821,<ref name="Brooks1939">Template:Cite book</ref> the fort had deteriorated to the point where soldiers could not live inside.<ref>Arana Waterbury 1999, p. 110.</ref> The United States never used the fort and it became a ruin.

Fort Matanzas was named for the inlet, which acquired its name after the executions, or matanzas (Spanish: slaughters),<ref name="HendersonCommittee198987">Template:Cite book</ref> on its north shore, of Jean Ribault and his band of Huguenot Frenchmen, the last of the Fort Caroline colonists,<ref name="PreservationArana1967">Template:Cite book</ref> by the Spanish in 1565.<ref name="Lowery1959">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Weber2009">Template:Cite book</ref>

Restoration and modern use

In 1916, the U.S Department of War began a major restoration of the badly deteriorated fort. By 1924, three vertical fissures in the wall were repaired and the structure was stabilized;<ref name="Henderson1989">Template:Cite book</ref> in the same year, National Monument status was proclaimed. Fort Matanzas was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. As a historic area under the Park Service, the National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

Headquarters and Visitor Center

The Fort Matanzas National Monument Headquarters and Visitor Center, located at 8635 A1A about Template:Convert south of St. Augustine, Florida, was built in 1936. Located on Anastasia Island, it services the Fort Matanzas National Monument, a five-minute boat ride away. It was designed by the National Park Service's Eastern Div. of Plans & Design in what is called National Park Service Rustic architectural style, and includes a museum. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The listing included two contributing buildings and one contributing site on Template:Convert.<ref name=nris/><ref name=nrhpdoc/>

The main building is a two-story building with an arched walk-through breezeway that serves as the visitor center and includes a ranger residence as well. The walls of its first floor are made of coquina block masonry, and the second floor is wood framed with wood siding. It has a hipped roof.<ref name=nrhpdoc/>

The one-story second building, Template:Convert to the north, is also hip-roofed and has coquina walls. It is a utility building that now serves as a ranger office.<ref name=nrhpdoc/>

Visitors wait at the center to take a five-minute boat ride to the historic Fort Matanzas, which is located across Matanzas Inlet on Rattlesnake Island.<ref name=nrhpdoc/>

The buildings and the surrounding landscaping was designed by architects of the Eastern Division Branch of Plans and Design of the National Park Service.<ref name=nrhpdoc/>

Additional designed features include flagstone walkways and sidewalks, an exterior staircase, a retaining wall, parking areas and roads and curbs.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} with Template:NRHP url</ref>

Gallery

• Ft. Matanzas 1937.jpg

  Sentry Box on barbazan, Fort Matanzas, 1937

• Fort Mantanzas.JPG

  Fort Matanzas in the distance

• Map of Fort Matanzas National Monument.png

  Map showing strategic location of Fort Matanzas

• Fort Matanzas visitor center3.jpg

  Visitor center

• View of Fort Matanzas from the fort's ferry.jpg

  The fort seen from a ferry

• View of the roof of Fort Matanzas.jpg

  Roof

• Fort Matanzas gun deck, showing 3 pounder gun-2.jpg

  Gun deck, showing 3-pounder gun

• Fort Matanzas inside01.jpg

  Interior

• Fort Matanzas river view-2.jpg

  View from the Matanzas River

See also

• Fort Matanzas National Monument Headquarters and Visitor Center
• List of national monuments of the United States
• For the etymology of "Matanzas" see Matanzas River.
• Hispanic Heritage Site

References

• National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Fort Matanzas - Official Map and Guide. 2002.

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:HABS
• Web Archive, read online Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments, Florida: Historical Research Management Plan