San Marcos de Apalache, walkaround

       Perhaps the most confusing site that I have ever visited, San Marcos de Apalache has been the site of many forts over the centuries. Other locations benefit from having a careful reconstruction or a complete fort still standing to provide a visual clue as to the location and history. In this location we find that the early forts have been utterly destroyed by hurricanes and later (partially completed) forts were built one atop the other. The physical structures extant are puzzling at first glance. I have tried to gather as many drawings and maps of the location to provide an idea of what the structures looked like before they fell into their current ruinous state. The park has an excellent little museum with an informative video and a good many informative panels supported by artifacts and models to illustrate  the long history of the St. Marks area.

the inevitable historical marker, packed with tantalizing bits of niformation

 

the view from the position of the marker,

 the Confederate earthworks lie over the remains of the Spanish fort

 

the museum is on the right, more earthworks to the left

 

a commemorative plaque

 

the military cemetery

Inside the Museum

 

an interesting map showing the early fort and village outpost, 

I was unable to determine if this was a representation of fact, or just a plan,

you get a feel for just how utterly flat and swampy the surroundings are 

 

a double-bastioned wall facing landward complete with a glacis

 protected the water battery and fort at the junction of the rivers

 

I wish that I checked to be sure that I had taken a clear photo of this 

anybody who visits in the future please snap a better shot and forward it to me and I will replace this one, I have a friend that specializes in the colonial Spanish period and he can translate Old Castilian

 

an interesting aside from the fort, this Bowles fellow seemed quite a character

 

the first Spanish contact began in the early 1500's with the disastrous Narvarez Expedition

 

after marching though the hinterland and encountering an increasing degree of hostility

 from the local population they decided to build boats to sail back to Cuba

 

a staggering amount of effort that ended in failure, 

no trace remains of those who set sail

 

the parti-colored sail is because they used items of clothing to make it

 

a more specific model of what the boats are assumed to have looked like

 

 

 

various forts through the years, each one piled upon the remains of the prior structures

 

 

the museum has a very informative time-line

it is aimed more at the casual visitor than the military historian 

but I learned a good many new things

 

 

I am still working on tracking down exactly how many different forts were built here; rot, insect infestation, pirates, hurricanes and formal enemy action all claimed at least one each

 

another tantalizing sketch, I only wish that I had a plan-form and dimensions

 

 

and, when they finally started to build in stone, the Spanish had to give it up to enemy

 

the British used the base as a trading outpost with the Native American tribes

 

 

a later map of the area

 

frustratingly inexact and clearly not to scale....

 

this is a period that cries out to be gamed

 

with the U.S. gaining control of the entire Florida coastline the fort fell into disuse 

and the stones were re-used to build a maritime hospital

 

a model of the fort as it stood when the U.S. took control,

 you can see the outline of the bastioned trace that the Spanish had planned long before 

and the one bastion and portion of wall that they had completed

 

a drawing of the reverse side of the same position

 

and a plan-form drawing

 

I don't know the reason for the deformed eastern bastion in this drawing

 

a painting in the museum of the original fort constructed of logs

but painted white to look like the stone forts that the Spanish built elsewhere

 

stones from the original fort, 

these had been recycled into the foundation of the Marine Hospital 

and now support the museum

 

looking south from the museum, 

the Confederate earthworks obscure most everything else

 

the Confederates filled in the Spanish moat 

and built an earth and log wall along the north side of the moat edge

 

this was done to protect the back of the water batteries from attack from the north

 

the mound that you can see in the distance is the magazine,

 the very high water table demands that you store your powder above ground-level

 

it is important to remember that at the time 

all of this land would have been cleared of trees and underbrush

 

the park has clearly delineated paths and a pamphlet that provides addition information 

and is keyed to markers on the grounds

 

the earthworks would have been substantially higher when built

 

probably another 3-4 feet

 

the earthworks encompass all of the original Spanish structures and a fair bit more land as well.

 

the magazine hill is deceptively large,

being hidden in the trees make it look smaller

 

but it is composed of a simple massive amount of dirt

 

some of the small amount of remaining Spanish walling

 

the low area in the center has the original Spanish wall to the south (left) and the Confederate earthwork to the right (north), this was the original moat

 

not much of an obstacle now

 but it would have been more sharply defined a century and a half ago

 

careful examination shows that there was a significant ditch in front of the earthworks

 

views of the magazine hill

 

 

 

and down from the top

 

I doubt that anyone would have wanted to be in this exposed position in the event of a battle

 

particularly as they would have been literally sitting on top of thousands of pounds of gunpowder

 

 

looking south from the southern edge of the earthworks

 

the ground gets very swampy in just a few yards

 

looking west along the old moat from the top of the hill

Spanish wall on the left, Confederate earthworks to the right

 

the footpath follows the inner edge of the earthworks

 

looking up at the magazine hill from the south

 

 

 

as the path heads west from the magazine hill we get our first glimpse of the old Spanish fort,

some footings of the bombproofs that were located against the south side of the wall

 

there isn't much left after decades of the cut stone being robbed-out for other projects

 

 

you can just see the footprint of the foundations in the grass

 

the wall was almost a yard thick, made of the hard flint stone from upriver

 

a better look at the foundations

 

 

 

the Confederates used the stone walls and foundations

 to support the earthworks and batteries that they build above

 

the foundations of the Spanish magazine

 

looking northeast from the inner southern face of the bastion position

the Spanish wall is to the right, the bright green grass is the old Spanish moat 

and the rise in the distance is the Confederate earthwork 

 

looking north from the same position

 

and northwest toward the river

 

straight west,

 the Confederates built an earthen battery position atop the stone bastion

 largely obliterating the footprint of the bastion

 

looking northwest again, 

you can see the remains of the piles of earth that protected the Confederate guns

 

and a view south along the river from the battery position

 

panning north, you can see just how flat the countryside is

 

 

the earth rampart that entombs the stone bastion remains

 

looking east from the battery position toward the magazine hill

 over what was once the Spanish moat

 

panning northward from that position

 

and back around to the river

 

 

looking really hard and using a lot of imagination

 I could almost see the  Vauban style bastion buried under the earth

this would be looking south east at the tip of the bastion, 

the point would be bottom center and the faces heading off tot he right and left

 

another view of the old moat

 

 

the bridge is most certainly a recent construction

 

looking east along the face of the Confederate earthworks

 

and then west from the opposite end of the line

       An intriguing site, deeply in need of a thorough-going archeological examination to illuminate its 400 years of history and deserving of a visit if you are in the area.