Anastasia State Park History
More than 300 years ago, sites like the coquina quarries located within Anastasia State Recreation Area were busy with workmen, mostly Native Americans, hauling out blocks of rock. By the late 1700’s, the Native American population had died out and quarry workers were usually enslaved Africans. With hand tools, they hewed out blocks of the soft shellstone and pried the squares loose along natural layers in the rock. The blocks were loaded onto ox-drawn carts, then barged across Matanzas Bay to the town of St. Augustine. The blocks were used to construct the Castillo de San Marcos and many other public and private buildings.
From its founding in 1565, St. Augustine had been a struggling outpost of Spain’s American empire. Spanish soldiers built their fort and their homes out of the pine trees and palmetto that were so plentiful. Time after time, their wooden settlement was destroyed by storms or burned by pirates and other European raiders. On Anastasia Island, the Spaniards discovered a better building material deposits of a rock made of broken shells. As early as 1598, they dug enough to build a gunpowder storage magazine. But they had neither the manpower, the engineering skills nor the tools to excavate enough for a large structure.
Finally, in 1671 large-scale quarrying began in the stone pits. Anastasia Island was even called “Cantera,” Spanish for “quarry.” This site is one of several on the island; the St. Augustine Amphitheater is located in another site. Coquina rock is relatively soft and easy to cut while in the ground and hardens when exposed to air. The Spanish learned to waterproof the stone walls by coating them with plaster and paint. Coquina rock has a unique feature that made it ideal for a fort.
When besieging ships bombarded the Castillo, the walls simply absorbed the cannon balls. Coquina continued to be a prized building material not only to the Spanish but later to the British (1763-83) and the Americans (1821).
From its founding in 1565, St. Augustine had been a struggling outpost of Spain’s American empire. Spanish soldiers built their fort and their homes out of the pine trees and palmetto that were so plentiful. Time after time, their wooden settlement was destroyed by storms or burned by pirates and other European raiders. On Anastasia Island, the Spaniards discovered a better building material deposits of a rock made of broken shells. As early as 1598, they dug enough to build a gunpowder storage magazine. But they had neither the manpower, the engineering skills nor the tools to excavate enough for a large structure.
Finally, in 1671 large-scale quarrying began in the stone pits. Anastasia Island was even called “Cantera,” Spanish for “quarry.” This site is one of several on the island; the St. Augustine Amphitheater is located in another site. Coquina rock is relatively soft and easy to cut while in the ground and hardens when exposed to air. The Spanish learned to waterproof the stone walls by coating them with plaster and paint. Coquina rock has a unique feature that made it ideal for a fort.
When besieging ships bombarded the Castillo, the walls simply absorbed the cannon balls. Coquina continued to be a prized building material not only to the Spanish but later to the British (1763-83) and the Americans (1821).
