A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway
Castillo de San Marcos, FL

Castillo de San Marcos was for many years the northern most outpost of the Spanish New World Empire. In 1672 construction of the Castillo de San Marcos, the immense and impressive fortress that guards Matanzas Bay, began. Faced by the growing English presence to the north the Spanish needed to strengthen the City's defenses; therefore, Spanish soldiers and Native Americans were pressed into service to build a giant structure of coquina blocks quarried from nearby Anastasia Island.

Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort and the best-preserved example of Spanish colonial fortification built in the continental United States. Designed by Spanish Engineer Ignacio Daza, it was built in the form of a hollow star with a diamond shape bastion at each corner. Construction of this fort was finally completed in 1695. The physical integrity and the structural splendor of this massive fortress remains largely intact more than three centuries after its completion.