BEST HISTORIC FORTS IN FLORIDA

CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS NATIONAL MONUMENT (Saint Augustine)

1 Castillo Drive South, Saint Augustine 32084; (http://www.nps.gov/)

The centerpiece of Spanish colonialism in the oldest city in the United States, the massive fort built of coquina and stone is a wonderful place to explore. The fort served as a prison to American Revolutionary supporters and Seminole Indians. The exhibits are well designed.

FORT CLINCH (Fernandina Beach)

2601 Atlanta Avenue; 904-277-7274

Located at the top of Amelia Island facing the coastal marsh of Georgia, Fort Clinch is a wonderfully preseved 1850's fort located on a great swimming beach. There is a museum and guides dressed as 1860's Union troops tour you around the buildings.

FORT PICKENS (Pensacola Beach)

Fort Pickens Road, Pensacola Beach 32561

This huge fort was built to protect Pensacola Bay and the Naval Yard, but remained in Union hands in the Civil War after the second combat engagement of the War. Geronimo was a prisoner here in 1887. There is a museum, fishing facilities, and a good beach.

FORT ZACHARY TAYLOR STATE HISTORIC SITE (Key West)

In Pensacola Naval Air Station on the southwest tip of Key West; 305-292-6713

This low lying fort was started in 1845 to protect the island port and is being renovated to its original neat brickwork and fortifications after years of neglect. The little beach by the fort is one of the few decent strips of island sand, although there are rough currents.

FORT CAROLINE (replica) (Jacksonville)

12713 Fort Caroline Road on the St. Johns River, Jacksonville 32225; 904-641-7155

Although this is a replica of a French colony set up in 1564 by Jean Ribault, it is a wonderful site to understand the origin of Florida's first settlement, which was French and Protestant, not Spanish and Catholic. A museum hugs a bluff above the fort to preserve the atmosphere. Unfortunately, in summer the flying bugs are often terrible.