Living Our Dream

Mobile, AL Part II: Day Trip to Pensacola, FL

Pensacola, FL is only about 35 miles from where we were staying in Summerdale, AL, near Mobile. We decided to take a day trip over to the Florida Panhandle to do a little sightseeing.

Margery's online research turned up a lot of things to see in the Pensacola area, but since we were only going there for the day, we decided to concentrate on the Gulf Islands National Seashore because we thought it would provide a good combination of history and nature. Gulf Islands National Seashore runs along the barrier islands off the coasts of western Florida and Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico. For some reason, the islands off the Alabama coast were not included.

Gulf Islands National Seashore has several visitor centers, and we started at the visitor center at the Naval Live Oaks Reservation located on the spit of land along the outer edge of Pensacola Bay. Prior to the start of the use of steel for ships in the 1860s, wood from live oak trees was very desirable for shipbuilding (especially for warships) because of its great strength. The area gets its name from the fact that the live oaks that grew in this area were once set aside for shipbuilding. More about that later.

Much of the strength of live oak comes from the high density of the wood, which is up to 75 pounds per cubic foot - over 30% more than white oak and 70% more than yellow pine. The visitor center has a display with one cubic foot samples of live oak, white oak, and yellow pine that you can lift with pulleys to feel the difference in weight.

The Pensacola area was first explored in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, and a settlement was established there in 1559 making it the first European settlement in the continental United States. However, the settlement was never able to fully recover from a devastating hurricane that hit later in 1559, and the settlement was abandoned in 1561. Therefore, St. Augustine, FL, which was established in 1565, retains the title as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States. Pensacola lay abandoned for 135 years before it was finally reestablished by the Spanish in 1696.

Pensacola is on the dividing line between what is considered to be French Louisiana and Spanish Florida. Pensacola was occupied by the French in 1719, but the Spanish returned in 1722 after the French left Pensacola following another devastating hurricane. After the French and Indian War, Pensacola became part of the British Colonies in 1763. During the Revolutionary War, Spain reoccupied Pensacola and other parts of Florida, but eventually turned the occupied areas over to the United States in 1818.

The United States established a permanent naval yard in Pensacola in 1824. In 1828, the government established the Naval Live Oak Reservation near the naval yard. It was established not only to protect the live oaks growing there, but also to experiment with the cultivation of live oaks. Today, it is part of the national seashore.

There are several hiking trails in the vicinity of the visitor center, and we decided to take the nature trail. The nature trail winds through a forest made up primarily of magnolias, slash pines, and live oaks. The next photo shows a live oak along the trail.

Many of the large live oaks along the nature trail have plaques in front of them with a photo of that particular tree. The photo has an overlay showing how various shapes would have been cut from the tree to be used for shipbuilding. For example, a rib for the side of a ship's hull might have been cut from a gently curving branch, and an angled support bracket might have been cut from the crotch where a branch met the trunk. The natural direction of the grain helped make the pieces very strong.

One of the most noticeable plants along the trail were the beautyberry shrubs. The magenta berries almost seemed to glow in the bright sun.

We stopped for a photo at the deck at the far end of the nature trail.

We took the trail back to the visitor center that ran closer to Pensacola Bay where we watched a great blue heron hunt for food in the shallows. He would stretch his neck up seemingly to get a better look down into the water ahead of him.

When he would apparently see something, he would crouch down and stalk forward. We watched for several minutes while he repeated those actions, but we never saw him catch anything.

 

From the Naval Live Oak Reserve, we took the bridge over Santa Rosa Sound to Santa Rosa Island. There is another area of the national seashore at the western tip of the island. On the way we drove through Pensacola Beach with its high-rise hotels and condos and its colorful beach houses.

Once we got to the national seashore, we got to enjoy views of Santa Rosa Sound on one side and the beach along the Gulf of Mexico (shown below) on the other. This area has some of the whitest sand in the world.

 

There was considerable damage to the road and the infrastructure in this area of the national seashore due to the severity of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. The road to the western tip of the island had been closed, and it only reopened on March 22, 2009.

At the tip of Santa Rosa Island is Fort Pickens. Following the War of 1812, the United States decided it needed to fortify its major ports. Fort Pickens was completed in 1834 and was one of three forts guarding the entrance to Pensacola Bay. Fort McRee was located on the barrier island opposite Fort Pickens (Perdido Key), and Fort Barrancas was located on the mainland right inside the entrance to the bay.

About 21.5 million bricks were used to construct the walls of 5-sided Fort Pickens. Strength to support the weight of the walls and heavy cannons was achieved by the use of arches. The photo below shows some of the cannon ports along the outer wall. You can see how the walls are a series of arches within arches.

 

Even though Fort Pickens was deep in the South, it was occupied by Union forces throughout the Civil War. The 15-inch Rodman cannon in the photo below was installed atop the northwestern wall of the fort shortly after the Civil War. The 15-inch Rodman cannon was one of the largest smooth-bore cannons ever used by the U. S. Army (there also was a 20-inch version), and it required a team of 10 men to fire.

The Rodman cannon was developed by a career Army officer by the name of Thomas Rodman. Rodman experimented with new casting methods to overcome previous size limitations of cast iron cannons. Rodman worked with the Fort Pitt Foundry located in our old home town of Pittsburgh to develop the new, larger cannons. Fort Pitt Foundry produced many Rodman cannons during and after the Civil War.

Some cannons during the Civil War were rifled, but most were smooth bore. In the 1870s, rifled cannons became more commonplace making brick forts like Fort Pickens obsolete. The rifled cannons were much more accurate and they could repeatedly hit the same spot on the wall of a fort. Brick construction was not strong enough to withstand repeated hits, so a reinforced concrete battery was built diagonally across the parade ground of Fort Pickins facing the Gulf of Mexico in 1898 as a response to possible threats from the Spanish during the Spanish-American War.

Several other gun batteries were constructed at the end of Santa Rosa Island in the early 1900s. Instead of concentrating them within the walls of the fort, the new batteries were spread out over a wide area. Since naval gunfire had become much more accurate and more powerful, the new system relied on disbursement and concealment for protection.

An interesting feature of Fort Pickens is the gap in the walls at the northwestern corner. This gap was caused when a fire in 1899 reached a powder magazine containing 8,000 pounds of black powder. The explosion showered debris 1½ miles, some of it reaching Fort Barrancas on the mainland across the entrance to the bay.

The famous Apache Indian chief Geronimo, along with several of his warriors, were held prisoner at Fort Pickens from 1886 to 1887. Their families were held at Castillo de San Marcos (renamed Fort Marion by the Americans in 1821) that we visited in St. Augustine, FL in 2007. To read about our 2007 visit to Castillo de San Marcos, click here.

Fort Pickens remained in use through WWII until 1947.

When we left the fort and Santa Rosa Island, we took the long way back to the motor home and followed a route along the Gulf. We wanted to stop for an early dinner at Mikee's Seafood restaurant in Gulf Shores, AL. Mikee's is part of the local chain of Shrimp Basket restaurants that we stopped at in Foley earlier in our stay. Unlike the other Shrimp Basket restaurants, Mikee's has a unique name and maintains a slightly different menu.

Margery had all-you-can-eat fried clams (not available at the other Shrimp Basket restaurants) and Paul had all-you can-eat fried mullet. We both had red potatoes and marinated cabbage (similar to German-style sweet/sour cole slaw). Paul's meal also included corn fritters served in their own cast iron skillet. Dinners at Mikee's run $1 to $2 more than at its sister Shrimp Basket restaurants, but the menu is a little more extensive, and the food is the same high quality.

After dinner, we headed back to the motor home. We enjoyed our time relaxing at Rainbow Plantation so much we extended our stay by a few days. We went back to the Shrimp Basket in Foley for all-you-can-eat shrimp with new friends from the park. It was so good the first time we just had to have more.

In our next post we'll tell where we headed after we left Mobile.

The Everglades

One more thing we wanted to see while we were in South Florida was the Everglades. The entrance to the national park was only about a 30-minute drive south of where we were staying at Larry and Penny Thompson Park. The close proximity to the Everglades, along with numerous good reviews on rvparkreviews.com, are the reasons we chose that campground.

While Everglades National Park does not have the spectacular scenery of other national parks like the Grand Canyon, Arches, or Bryce, it is nonetheless beautiful in its own right. It is also an important link in the ecology of South Florida.

Many people tend to think of the Everglades as a big, stagnant swamp. Nothing could be further from the truth. The water in the Everglades is actually a slow-moving, shallow sheet of water. Within this sheet of water is a complicated network of ponds, sloughs, sawgrass marshes, and hardwood hammocks. A hammock refers to an area of slightly higher elevation that forms an island in the sheet of flowing water. It is here the trees and larger plants grow. The water once flowed freely from Lake Okeechobee all the way down to the estuaries and the bay at the southern tip of Florida, but development has been threatening that flow. Another name for the Everglades is "River of Grass" referring to the fact the water in the vast sawgrass marshes is actually flowing. The photo below shows a view of the River of Grass.

 

In the 1800s, the Everglades were considered to be a worthless swamp, and there were dreams of draining it. In the early 1900s, drainage canals were successful at converting large tracts of wetlands into farmland. This, plus the building of railroads by people like Henry Flagler, made South Florida very attractive and more accessible to new residents and tourists.

By the 1920s, people were flocking to towns like Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Canals, roads, and buildings displaced wetland habitats. Over the years, the attraction of South Florida and the resulting building boom has put great pressure on the ecology of the Everglades. About 50% of the original wetland area of almost 11,000 square miles no longer exists. Entire populations of animals such as the Florida panther, the manatee, and the wood stork are endangered. Development south of Lake Okeechobee threatens the flow of water into the Everglades and fertilizer runoff threatens the quality of the water. Introduction of non-native, invasive plants and animal life are also significant threats to the ecology of the Everglades.

Our first stop in the park was Palm Key. Palm Key is a large hammock named after the large population of Royal Palms found growing there. The Anhinga Trail at Palm Key follows part of an old road that was built here in the early 1900s. The photo below shows Margery on the part of today's nature trail that follows a section of the old road.

In order to build the road, soil and rock were "borrowed" from the surrounding area to raise the height of the roadbed above the level of the water. These "borrow pits" filled with water.

It is said there are two seasons in the Everglades - wet and dry. Heavy rains and thunderstorms during the summer make it the wet season, and winter is the dry season. As winter progresses, many areas of the Everglades dry out. Wildlife, which is dependent on water for food and survival, tends to congregate around areas where water is still plentiful such as ponds elsewhere in the Everglades and the borrow pits near the Anhinga Trail. This makes this area an excellent place to view wildlife, especially in winter.

A few yards up the trail from where the photo above was taken, we ran across this 6-7 foot alligator lying only about 10 or 15 feet from the trail.

 

We saw more wildlife in the Everglades, and most of it right around Anhinga Trail, than anywhere else we have traveled. The photo below shows a great egret which was standing along the trail preening its feathers. Large numbers of great egrets were killed around the end of the 1800s for its plumes, which were used for ladies' hats. Conservation efforts have largely restored the egret population.

 

Right near the egret was a little blue heron stalking fish from the bank.

 

As we followed the trail, it became a boardwalk that circled out over the water of some of the borrow pits. Near the beginning of the boardwalk, we could see another alligator whose head was resting on a small island. Then there was a third alligator lying on the bottom in about 4 or 5 feet of water right below the boardwalk. This one was at least 8 feet long.

 

The photo above shows how clear the water in the Everglades is. It's not murky or the dark brown color that we often think of as swamp water.

From the boardwalk, we also saw several sandhill cranes. These birds are about 3 feet tall and look quite out of place in the treetops.

 

The trees in the photo above are bald cypress. Although they are conifers, they lose their needles in winter, which is the reason they are called bald. They lose their needles, not because of the cold, but as a way to conserve moisture during the dry winter.

Along the boardwalk, we also saw this little black and white warbler. He was flitting from branch to branch and hanging upside down to look for insects in the lichen and air plants growing along the branches.

 

About two thirds of the way down the main road into the park we made another stop at Mahogany Hammock. The plant growth on the larger hammocks is very dense, as you can see from the dark shadows behind Paul in the photo below. Once down the trail into the dense growth, you almost need a flashlight.

 

Mahogany Hammock gets its name from its stand of mahogany trees which includes the largest mahogany tree in the United States. In the photo below, Margery is checking out one of the mahogany trees.

We don't know if this is THE largest one, but it was pretty big. It was very jungle-like with numerous vines hanging down and air plants growing on it. Air plants, which are the bristly plants in the upper right of the photo below, are bromeliads that don't require soil to grow. They are not parasites and do not harm the host plant - they just use it for support.

At the end of the main park road is Flamingo. The town of Flamingo that used to be here was established in 1893 and had its own post office. Flamingo now has a marina, a campground, and a visitor center. The lodge that was once operated here was heavily damaged by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in the fall of 2005 and is now closed indefinitely.

On top of the visitor center was a tower that looked like some sort of weather station. On top of the tower was an osprey nest. Paul was fortunate to catch an osprey soaring overhead.

The water from the Everglades flows into Florida Bay. The bay is bounded on the southeast by the Florida Keys. To the west is the Gulf of Mexico. Kayaking and canoeing are popular ways to explore the bay.

We had packed a light lunch, which we ate while we were at Flamingo. Then we headed back to the motor home.

We decided we really like South Florida. We love the warmer weather and lush landscaping with exotic plants that combine to create an unmistakable sub-tropic atmosphere. We have yet ANOTHER location to add to our list of places we want to return to, but this one will be near the top of the list. For now, however, it's time to head even further south to the Florida Keys.

Florida's Space Coast Part III: The Coast

In addition to witnessing the launch of the Shuttle Endeavour and visiting the Kennedy Space Center, we also explored some of the other things to do in the vicinity of the Space Coast.

On the barrier island south of New Smyrna Beach and to the north of Kennedy Space center is Canaveral National Seashore. The seashore is an undeveloped area that is a sanctuary for plant, animal, and marine life.

A short distance inside the northern entrance to Canaveral National Seashore is Turtle Mound. Turtle Mound is a 50 foot high hillock of mostly oyster shells and is a refuse mound left by the Timucuan Indians from about 800 to 1400 AD. During the time the Indians lived here, the mound was as much as 75 feet high. Turtle Mound contains over 30,000 cubic feet of refuse and extends approximately 600 feet along the shore of the Indian River, which is the river that runs between the barrier island and the mainland. The mound is easily visible from the sea and has been used as a landmark by mariners since the time of the Spanish explorers. The turtle-like shape of the mound gives it its name.

There is a boardwalk that carries visitors to the top of the mound.

The photo below shows Margery and Paul on the boardwalk with the Indian River in the background.

 

Much of the larger plant growth has been removed from the top of the mound. You can see exposed oyster shells in a number of areas. But more importantly, with the vegetation removed, there is a clear view of the surrounding area. The photo below is looking north along the Indian River. The beach houses in the distance to the right are outside the national seashore.

 

Along the boardwalk, we saw several of these zebra longwing butterflies sipping nectar from the flowers.

 

A little farther down the road into the national seashore, we stopped at a parking area along the ocean side of the island where we could walk out to the beach.

 

After visiting Canaveral National Seashore, we also stopped to the north in New Smyrna Beach near where we were staying. Unlike the beach at Canaveral National Seashore, New Smyrna Beach is more like Daytona Beach a few miles farther to the north with a wide beach with little slope. The sand is very fine and so tightly packed you can easily drive your car on the beach like you can at Daytona. There is little danger of getting stuck unless you disobey the signs and try to drive on the sand at the very back of the beach where the tide seldom reaches. The photo below is one of the many auto entrances to the beach at New Smyrna.

The panoramic view of New Smyrna Beach below shows how totally different it is from the beach at Canaveral, which is only 8 or 10 miles to the south.

Just across the inlet to the north of New Smyrna Beach is Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station. But you can't get there from here because there is no bridge across the inlet. You have to go back across to the mainland, drive about 10 miles north almost to Daytona Beach, cross the bridge there out to the barrier island, then drive almost 6 miles back to the south to get to the light station.

At 176 feet high, Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station is the tallest lighthouse in Florida and the second tallest in the country. The lighthouse used to be called the Mosquito Inlet lighthouse until the inlet was renamed in honor of the Spanish explorer in 1927, which is a good thing because we tend to avoid any places that have "mosquito" in its name. :)  Work on the lighthouse was begun in 1883 and completed in 1886. The lighthouse is constructed entirely of brick and contains approximately 1.25 million of them. The foundation is 12 feet deep and is 38 feet across at ground level. At the base of the tower, which is 32 feet in diameter, the walls are 8 feet thick. The tower tapers to 12 feet in diameter at the top where the walls are only two feet thick. The photo below shows the Ponce de Leon Inlet lighthouse.

This area of the coast was long recognized as being very dangerous. Bonfires were lit on the shore to aid mariners. The first lighthouse built on the south shore of the inlet in 1835 was damaged by a hurricane, attacked by Seminole Indians and eventually fell into the sea without its lamps ever having been lit.

Last year when we visited the light station in St. Augustine, FL, we learned that, although the terms lighthouse and light station are frequently used interchangeably, lighthouse refers to the tall structure with the light on top while light station refers to a lighthouse that has a complex of support buildings. The support buildings at Ponce Inlet include the principal keeper' s house, two assistant keepers' houses, a woodshed, a pump house, a generator building (added in 1940), and an oil storage building.

Paul climbed the 203 steps to the top of the lighthouse. The photo below shows one of the assistant keeper's houses from the top of the tower. Margery, who decided not to stress her knees by climbing the tower, is sitting on the bench in front of the house to the right of the steps.

 

From the top of the lighthouse, you can see Daytona Beach in the far distance to the north...

 

...and to the south you can see the marina at the mouth of the inlet, New Smyrna Beach in the middle distance, and Canaveral National Seashore beyond that.

An entrance building/gift shop was added to the complex in 1992. It was built according to 1883 plans for a proposed, multi-family keeper's dwelling. In 1995, a building to exhibit the Preservation Association's collection of Fresnel (pronounced Fre-NEL) lenses was also added.

Fresnel lenses are actually a combination of lenses and prisms. The use of prisms allows a reduction of the overall thickness of the lens.

Order numbers are used to classify Fresnel lighthouse lenses with a first order lens being the largest and a sixth order the smallest. The first lens used at the Ponce de Leon Inlet lighthouse was a non-rotating, first order lens illuminated by a five-wick kerosene lantern whose light could be seen 20 miles out to sea.

In 1933, the lighthouse was electrified and the fixed lens was replaced by a rotating, third order lens. The rotation of the lens allows a unique pattern of flashes which is used by mariners to identify the lighthouse so they would know their exact location. The third order lens continues in operation today as a privately-operated aid to navigation.

There are a number of lenses and lamps on display in the lens exhibit building, but the star of the show is the restored, first order lens that was originally located in the Canaveral Lighthouse to the south. The Canaveral Lighthouse is located near the Kennedy Space Center. When it was discovered vibrations from all the rocket launches were damaging the lens of the Canaveral Lighthouse, the lens was removed in 1993 and placed on display at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. The lens is over 16 feet high and weighs 12,800 pounds.

 

As you can see, the lens is illuminated, although with a lower wattage lamp than would be present in actual use. The lens also rotates, and we were fascinated by the light patterns as they traveled around the walls.

 

Many of the other buildings on the grounds have displays of artifacts and photos that depict the life of the keepers and their families. The First Assistant Keeper's house is furnished the way it would have been at the turn of the 19th century. The photo below shows the bedroom.

 

Also on the grounds is one of the first charter fishing boats in Ponce Inlet, the Gay Wind. The boat was built in 1939 in St. Augustine and was in service until 1999.

 

Next to the Gay Wind were two rafts used by Cuban refugees trying to escape to America. The one on the left is made from canvas and styrofoam and washed ashore in 1989. A life vest was left in the raft by the Coast Guard indicating those on board had been rescued. The raft on the right was made from a truck inner tube, some wood, and a few pieces of styrofoam. The fate of those on the second raft is unknown. The fragility of these rafts that were used to traverse 90 miles of open ocean between Cuba and Florida indicates how desperate some are for freedom...something we take for granted.

 

While walking the grounds of the lighthouse, we stopped to admire these tropical-looking plants with bright orange flowers. We don't know what they are, but it was a good reason for a photo.

We spent a week on Florida's Space Coast and we found plenty to do, but there was one more thing we wanted to check out before we left. Right up the road from the campground was a sign for the ruins of a sugar mill. Every time we drove by, we were curious as to what it was. Finally, on our last day in New Smyrna Beach, we drove into the narrow road to find out. Just a few yards off the main road was a nice little county park.

In 1830, Henry Cruger and William DePeyster acquired 600 acres of land, bought machinery, and established a sugar plantation and mill on the site. Unfortunately, in December, 1835, Seminole Indians attacked the mill, set fire to it, and destroyed other plantations in the area.

The sugar house where the sugar cane was processed is pretty much all that remains of the mill. The locals carried off some of the stone blocks to use for other buildings after the destruction of the mill. The building was made from coquina, which is a type of limestone found along Florida's Atlantic coast. Coquina is composed of compressed bits of shell and is quite durable. In our travels last year, we found the Castillo de San Marcos (the large Spanish fort) in St. Augustine, FL, was constructed from coquina. The photo below shows the sugar house.

The mill had a steam-powered cane crusher to extract the juice, which was then heated in large kettles. Some of the kettles are still there. With Margery and Molly standing beside them, you can see how big they are.

 

When enough water had been boiled off, the thickened juice was ladled into wooden cooling troughs. After the sugar had cooled and crystallized, it was packed in barrels. Before shipping, the barrels were stored for a time to allow the molasses to run out.

Behind the ruins of the sugar mill is a short nature trail that runs through the palmettos. Molly enjoyed the opportunity for a little walk.

As we said, there is a lot to do in this area, but it was time to be moving on. We will have to add another location to our list of places we want to return to someday. From here, we will be heading farther south.

From Charleston, SC, we continued our southward journey stopping at Ocala National Forest where we stayed at Salt Springs Campground. While Ocala National Forest has a number of campgrounds, most have no hookups. Salt Springs Campground, however, has full hookups and is a nice quiet campground with paved pads and numerous trees - mostly pines and live oaks. Still, there are quite a few sites with potentially good satellite reception. With the discount we got with our America the Beautiful Pass, this was a nice place to chill out for a few days at a lower price than some of the tourist areas we had been in recently.

After spending four days at Salt Springs, we headed northeast to St. Augustine on Florida's Atlantic coast where we had reservations at Indian Forest Campground for a week. Indian Forest has gravel roads, packed sand/grass pads, and scraggly grass between sites. Indian Forest is very convenient to St. Augustine; but that means they are located on a main road into town with the accompanying traffic noise, especially since they are very close to the road. Many of the sites are shaded, but the owners graciously gave us one of the sites in the center of the main loop where there was full sun.

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously-occupied, European-established city in America. We had followed primarily British history up until now with our visits to the Historic Triangle of Williamsburg/Yorktown/Jamestown, Charleston, and with last year's visit to Savannah. We had touched on the history of Spain in the New World with our visit to the Alamo in San Antonio and to the Southwest in general, but now it was time to learn about Spain on the eastern side of the continent.

Florida was discovered in 1513 by Juan Ponce de Leon, whose name means Prince of Lions in English. Although there were prior Spanish settlements, they all were abandoned due to hurricanes, famine, and warring native tribes. The city of St. Augustine was established in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. This founding date is 22 years before British "Lost Colony" on Roanoke Island in 1587 (when supply ships finally returned 3 years later, the original colonists had vanished), 42 years before the British colony in Jamestown, and 55 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

The 208' tall stainless steel cross in the photo below marks the spot where Pedro Menendez is said to have landed on September 8, 1565.

As soon as the landing party was ashore, they celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving and afterward, Menendez laid out a meal to which he invited as guests the native Seloy tribe who occupied the site. The meal probably consisted of cocido, a stew made from salted pork and garbanzo beans, laced with garlic seasoning, and accompanied by hard sea biscuits and red wine. If the Seloy contributed to the meal, the menu could have included turkey, venison, gopher tortoise, seafood such as mullet and sea catfish, maize, beans, and squash.

Although the thanksgiving at St. Augustine was celebrated 55 years before the Puritan-Pilgrim thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, it did not become the origin of a national annual tradition. During the 18th century British forces won out over those of Spain and France for mastery over the continent. Thus, British observances such as the annual reenactment of the Pilgrims' harvest festival in 1621 became a national practice. After the U.S. became an independent country, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole nation to celebrate. George Washington suggested the date November 26.

In 1863 during the bitter struggle of America's Civil War President Abraham Lincoln established the last Thursday in November as a National Day of Thanksgiving, making it truly a national holiday. The President urged prayers in churches and in homes calling on the "whole American people" wherever they lived to unite "with one heart and one voice" in observing a special day of thanksgiving, and to "implore the interposition of the Almighty to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it...to full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union." We don't know how football got into it. :)

Last year when we visited Savannah, GA, we learned that Savannah had several forts to protect the new colony from the Spanish. In fact the British colonies of Georgia and Carolina were so worried by the Spanish that they attacked St. Augustine several times. Their efforts to expel the Spanish by force were unsuccessful. After the French and Indian War, the 1763 Treaty of Paris gave Florida and St. Augustine to the British. Florida was ceded back to Spain at the end of the American Revolution in 1783 in recognition of Spain's assistance to the Colonies during the war. A little later, however, Spain was being invaded by Napoleon and was struggling to retain its colonies. Spain turned Florida back over to the United States in 1821.

One of the reasons the British Colonies were unsuccessful taking St. Augustine by force was the strength of Castillo de San Marcos, a fort built by the Spanish to protect the city. For over 100 years, St. Augustine was protected by a series of wooden forts. Construction of a masonry fort which was called Castillo de San Marcos was started in 1672. The Castillo is built from a locally available stone called coquina, which literally means "little shells." Coquina is made up of fragments of billions of sea shells bonded together by time and pressure. It is fairly soft so it is able to absorb the impact of cannon balls without cracking making it an ideal material for a 17th century fort.

The fort is built in a star shape. The bastions projecting out from the corners of the fort provide a variety of angles of fire from the gun deck atop the walls, including the ability to trap anyone foolish enough to try to scale the walls in cross fire.

The entrance to the fort, which is shown below, was protected by a tidal moat and drawbridge.

Inside the fort, the chapel can be seen in the center of the wall which faces the entrance.

In the photo below, the white line just below the horizon and to the right of the muzzle of the cannon is the surf breaking at the mouth of the harbor about 3 miles away. This is just within range of the cannons.

Paul remembers his childhood visit to St. Augustine. The photo below shows Paul at Castillo de San Marcos in 1956.

Here is Paul during our recent stop at Castillo de San Marcos near the same location as the 1956 photo. The fort has changed a little since 1956. Paul has changed a lot!

Castillo de San Marcos is only a small part of what there is to see in St. Augustine. We think a guided tour is in order and will do some research to see which one we like the best.