Despite being located in Florida, Fort Matanzas was never used by the United States but was instead built by the Spanish out of crushed seashells.
In 1562, the French Hugenots wanted to establish a base in Spanish-controlled America. In 1565, the Spaniards got into an ugly confrontation with them and after a hurricane pulverized the French troops, they easily captured the French base. The Spaniards, led by Pedro Menendez, executed 245 prisoners on the beaches 14 miles south of their St. Augustine settlement. From then on the area would be known as "Matanzas" or "the place of many slaughters".
The current fort was built in the 1700's, and is made of coquina, a cement-like substance consisting of ground-up seashells. It was meant to house 7 Spanish troops and to defend St. Augustine from British invaders. The British, however, did take not only St. Augustine, but also all of Florida, by treaty in 1763 and used it as a watchtower like the Spaniards did. By 1821, though, the place was in ruins. On October 24, 1924, the fort was declared a national monument, and nine years later, was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service. The fort has undergone an extensive restoration and today, is an essential tourist attraction.
Fort Matanzas is only accessible by boat, since it's on an island no larger than two acres, but the seashell fortification is well worth the trip. The Spanish certainly thought so.
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