ABSTRACT Castillo de San Marcos Nat...

ABSTRACT

Castillo de San Marcos National gravestone St. Augustine, Florida, is administered according to the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, and comprises 85 ha (205 acres) including the moat and expansive embankment (glacis) surrounding the historic fortress, as well as landscaping adjacent to parking portions and park headquarters. A floristic contemplate was conducted to provide park service personnel with a vouchered plant species checklist for the entire park, including the flourishing flora supported by dint of the 10 m (33 ft) tall fort walls. Four intensive collecting trips mode of actioned in 2003-04 yielded 153 species of plants in 129 genera of 61 families, including 56 species growing forward the coquina walls of the fortress. Asteraceae, Poaceae, and Fabaceae had the largest number of species. Diagrams of the fort and photographs of representative plant species forward the shellstone walls are also provided. rule measures for the wall vegetation are briefly discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Castillo de San Marcos National gravestone administered by the National Park Service (NP United States Department of the Interior), is located in St Augustine, St John shire Florida, along State Road (SR) A1A/San Marco Ave., north of the city's central plaza (Figure 1A, B) The irregularly shaped park, ca. 85 ha (205 acres), is circumscribeed along the west by s R. A1A, and to the east, by way of Matanzas Bay and includes the original historic Castillo de San Marcos fortress with attendant landed estates plus the park headquarters (northwest corner) and parking parts (Figure 1C; Brown 1997). The Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest standing European fortification in the United States, was built at the northern animation of the colonial Spanish adjustment Modern St. Augustine has expanded around it in all directions. To the north, west, and southerly the site of the fort is a rolling grassy area with a hardly any planted trees, and a seawall separates the Castillo from Matanzas Bay along the east side. The park is lay open to the public every day (except in succession Christmas) and hosts over a million visitors a year (NP 2004) No floristic reviews had been previously conducted for this NP controll area.

Brief History of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

St Augustine (San Agustin), fixed by Pedro Men?©ndez de Avil?©s in 1565 was established to house Spanish shipping along the primary sea course between the New World and Europe Construction of the permanent fortress, Castillo de San Marcos, began in 1672 and was complet in 1695 (Manucy 1943 NP 1993) Spain maintained sway over St. Augustine until 1763: Florida subsequently became a diplomatic pawn involving several treaties among England, Spain, and/or the United States (see Gold 1969)

Florida was first transferred to the British (first Treaty of Paris), and St Augustine became the capitol of the province of East Florida (Gannon 2003) The Castillo, renamed Fort St Mark, became regimental headquarters for directing assaults upon the southern colonies during the American Revolutionary War. The fort was also used as a prison for rebel colonists (including three signers of the Declaration of the Independence).

Florida was transferred back to Spain in 1783 as part of negotiations ending the American Revolutionary War, and the Castillo was uninhabitable according to the time Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821 Numerous structural question s included cracks in the masonry walls and rainwater leaking by the and of the gundeck (roof) into the vaults below (a habitual problem) Congres allocated supplys for some repair in 1832 after local citizens declarationed the Army's neglect (Bearss and Paige 1983 Krakow 1986) The fortress, renamed Fort Marion (after Revolutionary War General Francis Marion), serv as a military base and as a prison for exiled Native Americans during the secondary Seminole War and the Western Indian Wars (1875-78 1886-87) and for enemy soldiers during the Spanish American War (1898) The War Department began giving guided tours of the fort around 1848 which were in great demand especially during incarceration of the western Indians who sold native crafts to the tourists (Krakow 1986)

In 1884 President Chester A. Arthur signed an appropriation for restoration and historic preservation of Fort Marion, and the fort was decommissioned as an active military base in 1900 In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed Fort Marion a national memorial (Executive Proclamation No. 1713), and President Franklin D Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 6166 in 1933 transferring Fort Marion (and other military parks and cemeteries) from the War Department to the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The original name, Castillo de San Marcos, was restored by dint of Congress in 1942 (Krakow 1986) through the past seventy years, the NP has overseen extensive restoration with of the like kind a high level of historical integrity that the fortress and other proper states of the park were placed in succession the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 in a less degree than the National Historic Preservation Act (Brown 1997)