Fountain of Youth Entrance, St. Augustine, Florida – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Ovidiu Hrubaru
With its enormous stone fort and centuries-old buildings, St. Augustine serves as a permanent reminder of Spain’s rich history in Florida, which dates back many generations before the United States was even a nation. However, Great Britain ruled the area for twenty years in the eighteenth century, and archaeologists have at last discovered some of their long-sought footprints.
Last fall, city archeologists discovered a dry moat that was part of a British redoubt, a fortified military outpost built in 1781. A new single-family home is being built in the city’s Lincolnville neighborhood after excavations were finished last month.
According to city archeologist Andrea White, St. Augustine had a British period that lasted for 20 years. They arrived and constructed seven of these redoubts, but no archeological evidence has ever been discovered. They appear on old maps, and we have a general notion of where they were. However, until recently, we had never discovered concrete, real archeological proof for any of them.
The Castillo de San Marcos, a fort on the western shore of Florida’s Matanzas Bay, was constructed by the Spanish military in the late 1600s. It is now a national monument rather than a military installation.
Although St. Augustine had substantial Spanish-built defenses when the British took over Florida in 1763, British officers were worried about an attack from a nearby river and ordered the construction of the outposts along the western edge of the city.
“The discovery of the fort is a way to reclaim a little piece of lost history,” White said, referring to Britain’s relatively brief occupation of St. Augustine, which ended along with the American Revolution in 1783.
“The intriguing thing about these British redoubts is that they are the only defenses that the British constructed on their own,” White stated. “The Spanish already constructed everything else in St. Augustine and the surrounding area that everyone is familiar with. After that, the British essentially took them back.
According to White, the discovery of the structure was made possible by a special archeological preservation ordinance that St. Augustine adopted in 1986. The city was established in 1565 and is the oldest continuously inhabited area of the United States that was once a European settlement. St. Augustine has its own archeology program, which is a division of the city’s planning and permitting department, to record and conserve that history.
“We have the opportunity to visit and record the existing conditions before construction begins,” White stated. “Stopping construction is never our aim. The study will proceed when we have had a brief opportunity to visit, record any potential findings, and gain a better understanding of our past.
White was aware of the lengthy history of the region being developed, which dates back to a Native American mission in the early 1700s, an agricultural plantation, and the building of the Lincolnville community during the Civil War.
“We were aware that the property might contain several centuries’ worth of history, but we’re quite thrilled to actually uncover proof,” White stated. “We discovered evidence of a sizable moat that would have been a component of the rampart, approximately 15 feet in width.”
Yet the exact size and shape of the fort are still unknown, researchers recovered thousands of various kinds of seeds from the site, yet they also uncovered few artifacts. To find out how the building was constructed and used, White said they are collaborating with a paleoethnobotanist, who investigates the history of interactions between plants and people. Plants like prickly pear cacti or Spanish bayonet may have been employed to slow down invading troops or stop erosion.
White stated, “We’re really optimistic that we might discover some useful information from our recovered plant remains.”
The city’s archeological program can undoubtedly cause delays, but White and her team were excellent and communicated well, so he was able to modify his timeframes, according to Jason Heidgerken, the contractor working on the land where the fort’s moat was discovered.
“I have personally visited St. Augustine since 1980, and the history is one of the attractions,” Heidgerken stated. “Therefore, it is expected that you will have to have the patience to live there and work in this line of work.”
The city’s archeology program has finished over 1,200 projects in the last forty years. Researchers have gathered information from Native American communities and settlements dating back 4,000 years in addition to Spanish colonial eras.
In fact, I think the city’s actions are rather awesome. I love history,” Heidgerken remarked. “I think it’s really cool.”
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Mike has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations. He once owned his own agency and has worked with some of the largest brands in the world.
