A Floridian Fort and Ecological Preserve

Trip Date: August 27-29

I recently took an unexpected trip to Jacksonville, Florida. Unfortunately, not all travel opportunities are for fun and adventure. I went with my Dad and his brother to meet up with other family members to remember and celebrate the life of my cousin, Lynnae, who lost a 10-year battle with cancer. Luckily, my family is the kind that when we get together, no matter what the reason, we enjoy being with each other and it turns into a fun time. The last time I was in Jacksonville was so long ago that I cannot remember a thing about it! But my aunt lives very close to the Fort Caroline National Memorial and the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, both official and separate units of the National Park System.

The first night we were there, after exchanging general comments with family, we all took a little field trip to a battlement next door that was built for the Spanish-American War, but never completed because the war ended before it was needed. The battlement is built on top of a bluff looking over the St. Johns River. Crews recently just cleared the battlement of any overgrown plant growth, swept the floors clean of dirt, and emptied out the artillery and ammunition storage rooms.

My family, examining all aspects of the Spanish-American War battlements

Looking across and down the battlements to the ammunition storage rooms

Inside the ammunition storage rooms

Multiple levels of walls added as support for the battlements. They are made out of a material called "tabby" that is a mixture of shelly-sand, water, and lime

Beautiful spanish moss hanging from the trees above the battlements

While there were of course some family obligations over the weekend, in our time between some of us wanted to see more of the Jacksonville area since none of us are from there. Just down the road from my aunt's house is the Fort Caroline National Memorial. Built in the early 1500s, Fort Caroline was to be a refuge for the French Hugenots seeking religious freedom in the New World. They built "la Caroline" as their settlement, but fearing that the French were encroaching on their overseas colonies, the Spanish were hot on the trails and in 1565 the Spanish were led by a French traitor to Fort Caroline where they murdered 143 Frenchmen (but no women or children).

A replica of a typical Timucuan shelter. The Timucuan people tried helping the French survive by bringing them local food, but the French were wary of change from their usual diets, rejected the help, and soon starved...

Replica of Fort Caroline from the St. Johns River

Little fiddler crabs scuttling around the sandy riverbank

The entrance to Fort Caroline

Inside Fort Caroline

Replica cannons of the 1500s

Just ahead on the path an armadillo scampered in front of us. It's on the left of the path in the photo

Looking up into more spanish moss

We drove down toward the mouth of the river and took a car ferry across and drove out to Little Talbot Island State Park - the only State Park to win the designation of "Most Beautiful State Park in America" twice...or so they claim. But it was very pretty. We didn't spend much time out there, but just enough to say we've been. Down on the beach lots of dragonflies were buzzing around the debris left high on the beach by the recent passing of Hurricane Irene, which didn't really do anything to Florida except provide them with big waves!

Pelicans on the ferry docks

Little Talbot Island Beach

Boardwalk going out to the beach

We were running out of time in the day, but we made one quick stop at the Kingsley Plantation. This bit of the history of slaves in America is made more interesting by the fact that the plantation owner, Kingsley, married and had a child with one of his slaves. Eventually when Florida joined the United States it was subjected to the laws banning this type of relationship and so Kingsley sent his wife and family to Haiti (or Dominican Republic - I forget!) and later joined them down there. I'm not sure if life on the Kingsley Plantation was much different from others at the time, but the thing I found most interesting was that each slave had his or her daily task (such as pick one quarter acre of sea island cotton), but once that task was complete, they were free to tend to their familys' needs. Now, don't think me an idiot. While this sounds generous, nothing about forced manual labor and being owned paints a pretty picture by any means. It was just one bit of life on this plantation that I hadn't heard existing in many other places.

Back side of the Kingsley Plantation house

Barn on the Kingsley Plantation where the picked sea island cotton was stored

Protected turtle burrows around the Plantation

Palm grove leading up to the front door of the Plantation House from the river

Remnants of the saves' housings, made out of tabby and you can see a lot of the whole shells sticking out from the walls!

I can't really say that I was fortunate to see the sites at these two National Parks due the extending circumstances which led me to be in Jacksonville in the first place. Regardless, the time spent at the parks and in the car between the parks allowed me to get to know other members of my family a little bit better, and for that, I am glad to have made the trip!