Fort Matanzas National Monument
The Spanish built Fort Matanzas in 1740-42 to control Matanzas inlet, the "back door" to St. Augustine.
Much earlier, in 1565, Spain had bloodily crushed here a French challenge to her control of Florida by killing the remnants of a French colony from Fort Caroline, 40 miles to the north.
Fort Matanzas became a National Monument in 1924, preserving this unique specimen of a vanished style of military architecture and engineering.
Marker can be reached from State Highway A1A.
Courtesy hmdb.org
