Just to the east of Jacksonville, Florida and encompassing thousands of acres surrounding the mouth of the Saint Johns River is the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. The area is named after the Timucua people who inhabited the area in the 1500s when the Spanish and French settled. As I have shared in previous posts the Spanish claimed all of North America when they first arrived, but it was the French who attempted to establish a colony first. In 1562 explorer Jean Ribault arrived and erected a monument at the mouth of the Saint Johns River. He was soon followed by more French soldiers and settlers, who in 1564 established Fort Caroline on the south bank of the river.
The Spanish, upon learning of the infringement, sent Admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles to remove the French. He did so in bloody fashion, attacking and slaughtering its soldiers in 1565. The Spanish renamed the fort San Mateo and began settling the area to preserve it as part of their territory. The Timucua slowly faded, leaving behind remnants of their culture. An example of this is the mounds of oyster shells can be found in the preserve, left from their meals during their reign.
By the time of the American Revolution the area had passed to the hands of the British, who established a settlement at St. Johns Bluff. During the war, several skirmishes and battles were fought in Northeast Florida between the British and American troops from Georgia. During the second Spanish era (1873-1821) there was a rapid expansion of farming in the preserve, with plantations being established to take advantage of the rich soil on the coastal islands. The best known was a farm on Fort George owned by Zephaniah Kingsley (The story of this plantation and its inhabitants will be shared in a future story).
As time continued the area was kept mostly in its natural state, and in 1988 it was established as the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve. In the 1960’s the first replica of Fort Caroline was built and later destroyed by a hurricane. It has since been rebuilt, at full scale, in a location believed to be near where the original stood. There is some question as to the exact location of the original French fort, and some scholars have proposed other locations.
Kristina and I drove from Orlando to the location of the preserve early in the morning. Upon arriving we quickly went into the visitor center to give us a better understanding of what was in store for us. We hadn’t done much research before this particular visit, other than the references from our previous journeys (see Fort Matanzas NM and Castillo de San Marcos NM) and really had only a little knowledge. We were thrilled to find a very knowledgeable and friendly park ranger, who gave us a brief timeline and oral history of the Preserve and Fort Caroline. There is a small room of displays in the visitor center and we took a look and the tangible history of the area. The old Timucua canoe was my favorite display, and I imagined what it must have been like to paddle up and down the Saint Johns River before the cities and towns were established. After stamping our passports and saying goodbye to the ranger we headed to the car to grab our hiking gear.
There is a small hike to the fort that starts behind the visitor center that leads to the replica of Fort Caroline. It leads up the side of the river and includes a replica of an old Timucua building with a brief description. We continued up the trail andtook a small side trip to the end of a pier that has been built for people arriving on boat. From there it was only a little further to the fort. Fort Caroline is a triangle structure with a large grass area in the center. We took our time walking around and looking over the barricade to see the river, and checked that no Spanish soldiers were breaching our settlement. As we talked about the layout and snapped a few photos, we were even greeted by a low flying helicopter. We waved as they passed, most likely heading to the Naval Base down the river, and remarked that the area is still a prime location for military establishments.
After our tour of the memorial, we decided to take one quick nature hike to break in our brand new boots. There is a short loop trail that leads from the fort and ends back near the Visitor Center. Kristina and I took our time on this hike, and were very happy to discover most of the trail was covered in shade. We came upon a few creatures on our hike, mostly birds and some crabs, and found a nice bridge that crossed a small creek. We discussed different hiking skills that Kristina has asked me to teach her, like how to identify Poison Ivy. We began talking about what we would be doing for lunch afterwards and soon found ourselves back near the parking lot. This marked the end of this journey, due to time restraints and the hot summer weather.
There are many more trails in the preserve and an entire area north of the river that we did not make it to on this trip. We promised ourselves that we would return to visit again and learn more about the Kingsley Plantation, something that we have recently accomplished. That, however, is another journey and story for another time.
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