We had a nice Shabbos at the Chabad in Jacksonville, Florida.  This morning, we first visited Fort Caroline National Memorial, which happens to be surrounded by Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve:

Fort Caroline was built by the French in the 1560s.  After an unsuccessful attempt by the French to destroy the Spanish Castillo de San Marcos, the Spanish attacked Fort Caroline in 1565, killing every soldier at the fort despite French surrender.  Three years later, in 1568, the French returned, capturing Fort Caroline back from Spanish control, killing hundreds of Spanish troops.  The French then abandoned Fort Caroline before the inevitable Spanish reprisals.

The park includes a replica Indian dwelling:

The recreated Fort Caroline:

We returned to the visitor center:

This timeline shows who controlled this region, from France in the 1560s to the US in modern times:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

Our next stop was Fort Matanzas National Monument:

Fort Matanzas was built in response to Oglethorpe’s unsuccessful attempt to take forces from Fort Frederica (which we visited on Wednesday) to assault Castillo de San Marcos.  The Spanish realized that the British could sail past the Castillo and then sail up Matanzas Inlet to attack the town of St. Augustine from behind.  To prevent this, the Spanish built Fort Matanzas near the mouth of Matanzas Inlet:

Across the river, we could see Fort Matanzas in the distance:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

The kids did an additional optional project in the Junior Ranger books, for which they earned a Master Junior Ranger patch:

We headed down to the beach:

This fellow was playing with his windboarding wing:

Our last stop of the day was St. Augustine, America’s oldest continuously inhabited town, and the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, the Spanish fort we’ve heard about at Fort Frederica, Fort Caroline, and Fort Matanzas:

The Spanish troops fire the great guns:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger books and received their badges:

As at Fort Matanzas, the kids did extra projects in the book, earning the Master Junior Ranger patch:

We drove back to the RV, and will be staying here at the Chabad of Jacksonville for one more night.  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.