Skip to main content

Florida Friday; Fort Caroline Natinonal Memorial

Back in 2013 I was visiting the city of Jacksonville and decided to stop in at Fort Caroline National Memorial on the banks of the St. John's River near Florida State Road 116.






Fort Caroline was an attempted French Colony that was established on the St. Johns River in 1564.  The French had made an attempt to colonize what was known as French Florida between 1562 and 1565.  The exact site of Fort Caroline is not known and the Memorial is just a replica built by the Park Service based off of research.  Fort Caroline was attacked by the Spanish who had staked claims to Florida as early as 1513 and had failed to establish a permanent colony.  The French attempt at colonization of Florida spurred the Spanish to put greater effort into colonizing.  St. Augustine was established as the first true colony of Spain in 1565 which is occupied to this very day.  After the French were run out of Fort Caroline in 1565 it was occupied by the Spanish as San Mateo Until 1569. 








Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...

Trans-Sierra Highway Passes; Interstate 80 Donner Summit

Back in 2016 I attempted as many Trans-Sierra Highway Passes as I could upon my return to California.  I started with Interstate 80 over Donner Summit during the late winter on the way to Lake Tahoe and Virginia City. Donner Summit is actually located north of the 7,056 foot Donner Pass.  Donner Summit has a listed height of 7,277 feet above sea level which is listed at the rest area on the eastbound lanes heading towards Truckee. As I-80 begins to descend from Donner Summit there is an overlook of Donner Lake and Donner Pass. US 40, the Lincoln Highway, First Trans-Continental Railroad, and the Dutch Flat & Donner Lake Railroad all crossed Donner Pass on various different alignments to the south of Donner Summit. Previously I wrote a blog about Donner Pass which includes a history of early pioneer crossings, the Donner Party, the Dutch Flat & and Donner Road, the Lincoln Highway, and of course US 40 which can be found here: Old US Route 40 on Don...

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...