Castillo de San Marcos Fort

A Spanish Coquina Fortress

Completed in 1695, the Castillo de San Marcos is the centerpiece of St. Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited European-founded settlement in the continental United States. Its walls are made of coquina, a soft shellstone that absorbed cannon fire rather than shattering, making the fort virtually impregnable.

The Bastions and Gun Deck

The fort's four diamond-shaped bastions project from each corner, giving defenders overlapping fields of fire across the surrounding glacis. The camera frames the gun deck with its row of historic cannon trained over Matanzas Bay, a vantage that once helped repel attacks including a famous siege led by Sir Francis Drake.

A National Monument on the Bay

Designated a National Monument, the Castillo sits where the Matanzas River opens toward the Atlantic. The view captures the fort's coquina ramparts, the manicured lawns of the old defensive zone, and the shimmering water beyond, a living window onto centuries of Spanish, British, and American history.