El Castillo Heritage Preservation Report

8/2/2019 El Castillo Heritage Preservation Report

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NATION

ALPARK

SERVICEHERITAG

EPRESERVATION

El Castillo

de

San Marcos

National Monument

A Project by R. Christine Turple

April 2009

El Castillo

de

San Marcos

National Monument


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In 1872, the United States took the first step to-

ward establishing what in 1912, the Ambassador

from Great Britain, Lord James Bryce, called the

best idea America ever had. (Hyslop 2009) The

founding of Yellowstone National Park marked the

unofficial beginning of the United States National

Park Service. Eighteen more years would pass before

another park came under the official protection of

the federal government. By 1900, five national parks

existed with three of them in California.

Parks were not the only resource coming under

government protection during the early days. In

1889, in calling for the repair and protection of the

Casa Grande Ruin in Arizona, Congress created the

first National Monument. A year later, the first Na-

tional Battlefields were designated when Congress

set aside the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Civil

War battlefields.

Finally in June, 1906, President Theodore Roose-

velt signed into law the Act for the Preservation of

American Antiquities. This law specifically stated

that historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric

structures, and other objects of historic or scientific

interest (Archaeology Online 2006) located on fed-

eral land were now under the protection of the Fed-

eral Government.

Additional legislation was enacted to regulate

hunting, logging, mining, and even automobile use

within the parks, (Dilsaver 1994) but the system of

managing the national parks, monuments, and bat-

tlefields as separate entities under the federals um-

brella of the Department of Interior, Department of

War, or Department of Agriculture was cumbersome.

With Theodore Roosevelts sign

ing of the Organic Act in 1916

the National Park Service wa

created.

Today, the U.S. National Par

Service manages 13,000 histor

cal structures, 26 million ob

jects, and many thousand mor

archaeological sites spread ove

more than 300 distinct unit

The Park Services acquisition o

nationally significant sites con

tinued unabated from its 191

inception through the 1930s

Franklin Roosevelts proclama

tion of 1933 added responsibilit

for all national monuments, an

cemeteries to the Service, bring

ing an additional forty-eight his

torical sites under one roof ove

night. Among those forty-eigh

additional sites was the Castil

de San Marcos National Monu

ment. (Schene 1987)

El Castillo de San MarcThe Best Idea America Ever HadThe National Park Service

El Castillo de San Marcos


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In 1513, just eleven years after Christopher

Columbus invaded the island of Hispaniola, Ponce de

Leon, under contract to the Spanish Crown, led three

ships on the first Spanish expedition northward from

the Caribbean. Landing on the Atlantic coast in the

realm of the Timucua people, he gave the land a

European name La Florida in honor of the Chris-

tian Easter Holy Week and the Feast of the Flowers

that coincided with his arrival. Believing La Florida

to be an island, he subsequently sailed south,rounded the tip of the peninsula at the Florida Keys,

and sailed northward, coming ashore just below

Charlotte Harbor in the territory of the Calusa peo-

ple. DeLeon lifted anchor just three weeks later and

made his return to Puerto Rico by way of the terri-

tory of the Tequesta people, near todays Miami.

(Milanich 1996)

More Spanish expeditions ensued in the fol-

lowing decades, but all attempts at colonization

failed. Failed that is, until in late 1561, rumors of a

French expedition to La Florida reached the ears of

the Spanish Monarch. Although Jean Ribault had

not yet sailed, news of his expeditions and stories of

French plans to establish colonies provided the im-

petus Spain needed to launch a new attempt at gain-

ing a permanent foothold in La Florida.

Several years of conflict followed between the

two nations. In 1562, Ribault and Rene de Lau-

donniere succeeded in placing a stone marker near

the mouth of the St. Johns River, north of St.

Augustine, but then travelled further north to South

Carolina where work on a fort was begun. Leaving

30 men behind to man Charlesfort, as he called it,

Ribault and de Laudonniere returned to France. The

Spanish Crown lost no time i

sending a ship to destroy th

fort. In 1564, de Laudonnier

returned to the St. Johns Rive

with a group of 300 men an

women French Huguenot

seeking freedom from religiou

persecution. In the Europea

manner, they built their fort in

triangular shape, with the twcorners facing the river, and th

apex facing south. With a moa

drawing in water from the S

Johns River, the fortificatio

named Fort Caroline was sur

rounded by water. (deQuesad

2006)

El Castillo de San MarcThe Early Years

Fort Caroline, 1564. Engraving b

Theodore de Bry based on drawing

Jacques LeMoyne.

Image courtesy of the

Florida Museum of

Natural History.


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Ultimately, under the leadership of Pedro

Menndez de Avils, the Spanish arrived at the

mouth of the St. Johns River on September 4, 1565,

and four days later, formally took possession ofLa

Florida. It was with this proclamation that the set-

tlement of St. Augustine was established. On Sep-

tember 18th, Menendez began a march north toward

Fort Caroline, and two days later, attacked at dawn

in a hard rain a rain that worked to their benefit by

driving the French lookouts from their posts.

With the French surprised, the Spanish easily

took the fort. One hundred thirty-two French colo-

nists were killed, and about fifty women and children

were taken captive. Laudonniere, the artist Jacques

LeMoyne, and 43 of his men fled, making their way

to the ships anchored nearby.

Ribault, returning from France with six hun-

dred colonists had shipwrecked some miles to the

south near modern Cape Canaveral. One group

made their way north by foot to an inlet 18 miles

south of St. Augustine, where, observed by natives,

were reported to the Spanish. Menendez arrived on

the scene with a company of soldiers, and ignoring

the French offer of surrender, led them behind a

dune and executed all but a dozen Catholics.

Two weeks later a second group of French, in-cluding Ribault, arrived at the same inlet. Menendez

again confronted them, offering to accept their sur-

render, and executing those who complied. The re-

mainder fled south. Later in that month, Menendez

learned of a third group of French encamped near

Cape Canaveral, and successful routed them as well.

(Milanich 1995)

Milanich, J. T.

El Castillo de San MarcClashes

Pedro Mendez de Aviles

Image courtesy of the FloridaMuseum of Natural History

Fort Caroline National MonumenMarch 2009

Photo courtesy of the author


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Following Menndez rout of the French, a se-

ries of nine wooden fortifications were constructed at

St. Augustine, but none were sufficient to withstand

attacks by foreign military forces or pirates. An Eng-

lish fleet of two thousand men led by Sir Francis

Drake landed in 1586 and burned St. Augustine to

the ground. In 1668 two Spanish supply ships

sailed into the harbor. Captured by pirate John

Davis, they were used as floating Trojan Horses.

The fort withstood the attack but sixty Spanish werekilled and the town was plundered. (deQuesada

2006)

Under the leadership of new Governor Don

Manuel de Cendoya, 1671 saw the beginnings of a

new masonry fort el Castillo de San Marcos. Mak-

ing use of the coquina on nearby Anastasia Island,

the soft stone was removed in great blocks and

transported by rafts to a site near the old wooden

fort where they were shaped and left to harden.

The 15 artisans brought in to build the fort

found themselves drastically short of labor. They

made use of the indigenous Guale from coastal Geor-

gia, and the Timucua and Apalache from Florida.

Although they were paid wages, their contracts were

frequently extended without consent. Local Spanish

peons and convicts were also set to work, and begin-

ning in 1687, eighteen slaves belonging to the Span-

ish crown joined the labor mix. The construction be-

gan in 1672 and work continued in intervals for

twenty-three years until 1695, when the newest Gov-

ernor, Don Laureano de Torres y Ayala, saw the last

stones set in place. It was August, 1695, when the

last workmen moved out the fort. (Historic Print &

Map Co. 2005)

In the decades followin

the forts completion and its sub

sequent additions, the Spanis

discovered that the Castillo d

San Marcos was constructed of

very special material. Cannon

balls did not shatter the coquin

walls, they simply absorbed th

balls. As one Englishman note

in 1740, during a siege, the na

tive stone will not splinter bu

will give way to cannon ball a

though you would stick a knif

into cheese. (Historic Print

Map Co. 2005)

El Castillo de San MarcConstruction

Cannonball scar in Castillo wall

March 2009Photo courtesy of author


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This characteristic of coquina, while providing

safety to its builders and occupants within, has pro-

duced something quite different for the people who

care for el Castillo de San Marcos today. Despite its

ability to withstand bombardment from cannonballs,

the Castillo and its attendant coquina seawall are

now under siege by a different kind of enemy

Nature.

Built in the mid-19th century by the Army

Corps of Engineers, the historic seawall was built to

protect the Castillo and its surrounding property

from storm surges, high tides, and hurricanes. It is

a part of a larger seawall system that extends 4,700

feet and affords the city of St. Augustine some pro-

tection from soil erosion and flooding. The National

Park Service owns about 1,350 linear feet, and the

remaining 3,400 feet is owned by the city. The sea-

wall is constructed of coquina, with Tabby used as a

bonding agent for the stones. Tabby is a type of ce-

ment made of lime, crushed oyster shell, sand, and

water. The seawall was capped above the high water

line with granite.

The seawall is approximately 6 to 7 feet

tall, and about 6 feet wide at the base. It narrows

from bottom to top and is about 3 feet wide at the

granite cap. The wall sits atop a coquina stone foun-

dation that is about 2 feet thick and 7 feet wide.

During its 160-year existence, the seawall has

undergone a number of reconstructive repairs due

largely to erosion caused by tides and storms. An

Historic Seawall Stabilization Environmental Assess-

ment was completed by the Na

tional Park Service in 2007. Th

assessment reported that most o

the parks seawall is in fair con

dition, but two sections are fai

ing. The southernmost 243 fee

of the seawall and 70 feet of th

seawall near the northeast cor

ner of the fort contain larg

cracks that have allowed seawater to penetrate the wall an

erode the soil. This has led t

the sinking of a portion of th

sidewalk adjacent to the south

ern section of the seawall.

In 2004, an engineerin

firm evaluated the condition o

the historic seawall in the south

ern part of the park. Their rec

ommendations for action in

cluded the option of the place

ment of fill on the seaward sid

of the seawall.

El Castillo de San MarcThe Enemy Today

THE SEAWALL

Seawall erosion


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Jehu Walker, the Facility Management Special-

ist at the Castillo de San Marcos, stated earlier this

year (2009) that funding has been procured for the

placement of riprap along the seawall in order to sta-

bilize it and minimize further erosion from the sea-

water. Riprap will be used, as repairing the actual

wall would be cost prohibitive. Jehu expects the

placement of the riprap to take about a month, and

work is expected to begin later this year (2009) after

the end of hurricane season. (Walker 2009)

In 1973, the National Park Service commis-

sioned a study of all their masonry forts to assess

their condition and to make recommendations for

restoration and/or rehabilitation. This report noted

the existence of serious vertical cracks in the cur-

tain of the fort, and states that preliminary investi-

gations by archaeologist George Fischer indicated the

cracks did not extend much be

yond the waterline in the moa

Also noted in the report is exten

sive erosion of the counterscarp

or the outer wall of the moa

and of the seawall. The ceilin

and the walls of the fort ha

been leaking to the extent that

room was built within one of th

forts rooms for storage of artfacts. In an attempt to stop th

leaking, the park service pave

the terreplein with Laycold

Laykold is a white asphalt coa

ing that did little to enhance th

appearance of the fort, but di

provide protection for the co

quina it covered. It succeeded i

slowing the flow of water into thwalls, but did not prevent it com

pletely. In this report, the au

thor mentioned that the superin

tendent of the Castillo de Sa

Marcos was considering at th

time hiring a mason as a perma

nent addition to the staf

(Holland and Jones 1973)

What this report did no

include was the reason for th

distressing vertical cracks in th

curtain. During the conversa

tions with Jehu Walker, h

stated that after the Nationa

Park Service acquired th

El Castillo de San MarcThe Problems

Coquina riprap near Fort MatanzasFebruary 2009

Photo courtesy of author


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Castillo in 1933, the moat was filled with water. It

was only sometime after this report was written, that

it was determined that the moat was not intended to

hold water, but was instead for the containment of

livestock. The water softened the ground under the

foundation, and the towers began to pull away from

the structure. (Walker 2009) A report by Campbell

Scientific in 1998 states that two of the four bastions

showed evidence of cracking since the early 1800s.

(Wright 1998)

The photograph below shows the southwest

bastion with a water-filled moat. The photograph is

part of the documentation collected in the mid-20th

century by HABS/HAER, the Historic American

states that the Park Service use

a mason to manually remov

plant material from the walls o

a regular basis, but later exper

mentation with herbicides re

El Castillo de San Marc

Buildings Survey/Historic Amer

can Engineering Record, the na

tions first federal preservatio

program that began in 1933

The photo was probably taken i

1955.

Yet another natural dange

to the Castillo appears innocu

ous, but is capable of inflictin

severe damage to the fragile co

quina. A report by University o

Georgia faculty Wendy B. Zomle

fer and David E. Giannasi i

2005 found 153 different specie

of moss, ferns, and grass grow

ing on the walls. The repo

Castillo de San MarcosSouth Bastion

Photo courtesy of National Park Service HABS

Floral growth on Castillo wallMarch 2009

More Dangers


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El Castillo de San MarcThey look with their hands instead of their eyes.

vealed that RoundUp brand proved to be the most

effective method of removal. (Zomlefer and Giannasi

2005) This was confirmed verbally by Jehu Walker.

(Walker 2009)

Another and possibly the most significant dan-

ger to the Castillo is one for which there is no easy

cure. As is the case with many historical structures

and prehistoric sites around the world, the Castillo

de San Marcos is most at ris

from the public who visits it.

According to Jehu Walke

the Castillo draws as many a

4,000 visitors per day. Althoug

there are many reminder

around the site asking visitors t

refrain from touching the fragi

shell stone walls, (National Par

Service 2009) it was obvious dur

ing visits in early 2009 that thes

reminders frequently go un

heeded. During an interview

Jehu confirmed that the publ

presents the greatest danger t

the Castillo when he said of th

visitors, They have a tendenc

to look with their hands instea

of their eyes. (Walker 2009)

In 2007 a Final Genera

Management Plan was release

as guidance for park manager

for the next 15 to 20 years. Fou

alternatives had been describe

in a draft version, and comment

from the public were taken. Th

National Park Service had in

tially preferred plan D, whic

provided for no new visitor cente

and no changes in parking. Pub

lic comments resulted in the re

Castillo de San MarcosVisitors look with their hands, not their eyes.

February 2009

Photo courtesy of author

THE FUTURE OF EL CASTILLO


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El Castillo de San MarcFuture Plans

vision of the preferred plan from Plan D to Plan C.

(National Park Service 2007)

This plan provides for the construction of an

offsite visitor center in the Spanish Quarter across

the street. The site under consideration is a vacant

lot formerly occupied by the historic Mary Peck

house, which was moved to a new location in 2004.

This alternative also provides for expansion of the

fort green ar-

eas produc-

ing a much

i m p r o v e d

view shed,

and removal

of modern

intrusions in

three of the

forts case-

m a t e s .

( N a t i o n a l

Park Service

2007) Ac-

cording to

park person-

nel, the

changes will be funded by a partnership consisting of

the National Park Service, the City of St. Augustine,and the State of Florida, with the bulk of funds being

federal. Both Park and City employees will staff the

visitor center. Jehu Walker stated that the City of

St. Augustine is eager for the project to begin.

(Walker 2009)

The Park Service has now determined that

maintenance of the coquina at this facility requires a

permanent full-time staff. E

forts are underway to hire a mas

ter mason and four additiona

people who will devote their en

ergy to preserving the physica

structure of the fort. One of th

first projects to be undertaken b

the new staff will be the re

pointing of the fort, which in

volves removaand replacemen

of grout. The re

pointing projec

is expected t

begin during fis

cal year 2010

(Walker 2009)

The communit

of St. Augustin

relies heavily o

the tourism in

dustry generate

by the Castillo

As the oldes

continually oc

cupied city on U.S. soil, it is on

of the few to have its own archaeologist. The addition of pe

manent stonemasons to the par

staff, and the construction of

new offsite visitor center for th

fort will help assure its contin

ued presence in this communit

for decades if not centuries more

El Castillo courtyardPhotosynthy


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The National Park ServiBibliography

Archaeology Online

2006 Archaeology-Online Features: An Act for the Preservation of American Antiqui-

ties Archaeological Institute of America.

deQuesada, A. J.

A History of Florida Forts. The History Press, Charleston, SC.

Dilsaver, L. M. (editor)

1994 America's National Park Service: The Critical Documents. Rowman & Littlefield

Publishers, Inc., Lanham, MD.

French, C. M.

2009 The Emergence of the Mission 66 Centers.

French, C. M.

2009 Email, edited by C. Turple.

Historic Print & Map Co. (editor)

2005 The History of Castillo de San Marcos. Historic Print & Map Co., St. Augustine,

FL.

Holland, F. R., Jr. and R. Jones

1973 Special History Study: Masonry Forts of the National Park Service. Historic

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2009 Impaired visibility: the air pollution people see Atmospheric Environment 43

(1):182-195.

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1995 Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. The University Press of Florida,

Gainesville, FL.

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1995 Battling for Manassas: The Fifty-Year Preservation Struggle at Manassas Na-

tional Battlefield Park


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2007 Final General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement: Castillo d

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partment of the Interior.

Schene, M. G.

1987 The National Park Service and Historic Preservation: An Introduction. T

he Public Historian9(2):6-9.Walker, J.

2009 Interview with Jehu Walker, edited by C. Turple. Recorded interview ed, S

Augustine, FL.

Wright, D.

1998 Monitoring Structural Cracks. Campbell Scientific Inc.

Zomlefer, W. B. and D. E. Giannasi

2005 Floristic Survey of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, St. Augustine, FCastanea70(3):222-236.

The National Park ServiBibliography