Visitor Center Fort Caroline — Attraction in Jacksonville

Take the ranger lead tour!!! Fantastic place to visit! They also had a display with all the different animal fur coats. Clean bathrooms, walking trails. Fort Caroline was French settlement 1 year before Spanish St Augustine settlement. 1564 French Huguenots (Protestants) left France to escape religious persecution for not being Catholic. (Spain had previously been ruled for 700 years by Muslims!! Then Catholics got control back and Martin Luther initiated Protestant movement in Europe). This settlement only Lasted 1 year. The French attacked st Augustine and even though the French had more men, more weapons and more ships - Mother Nature decided this fate (hurricane). The men were scattered after Hurricane - leaving fort Caroline unprotected - Pedro Menéndez st Augustine took advantage and killed most left behind at the fort Caroline & burned it to the ground. Then he led the survivors of Hurricane to Dunes and killed 300 of them in what is known today as “Matanza Inlet” on google maps. 16 agreed to convert to Catholic and had skills the Spanish needed so they survived. Pedro Menéndez published writing stating the murders were not an act against Span but against Protestants - therefore no war was started between France and Spain. Make sure to check out the Spanish Pond trail - where the Spanish camped before attacking unprotected fort Caroline and if you keep going to you can see a meteor site at “round...

This is a free venue. Plan to spend about one or two hours here if you read all the history in the visitor center and take the short walk out to the replica of Fort Caroline. They also have a nature trail. Nice views of the Saint John's river. We enjoyed our visit and learning about the Timucuan Indians. I especially liked the timeline of who occupied...

It was a nice day and fun time visiting the Fort Caroline memorial and nature trails! Many thanks to the Park Ranger, working today, for the warm welcome and helpful insights about the park which over 40,000 acres!

The museum here is incredible for learning about the history of the fort and the developments over time. I look forward to...