Saturday, September 06, 2008

Sweet (Fort) Caroline

Bar none, the best fake fort in Florida is Fort Caroline National Memorial, just east of Jacksonville. The French came here in the 1560s and said something to the effect of, "Hey, just in case someone builds Walt Disney World in Florida, let's put a fort here." And that's what they did. But the Spanish were all like, "You're not Catholic enough." So, they walked up from St. Augustine and routed them some French. It's all here.

The fort is long gone. But a new one was put up in roughly the same spot in the 1960s. A park ranger calls it "Fort Fak-ee." But it's right on the St. Johns. And there's a nice nature trail attached to it.

And dog-friendly. Here's Oscar and me chilling on a fake wall thing.


Nacho should probably not be this close to a cannon, even if it doesn't work.

Who knew that the 16th century French cared so much about lawn maintenance? 

Nice walk up and down some hills -- yes, actual hills in Florida. Check the motion blur. We were really moving.

And here's what Northeast Florida looks like. Not Mount Cheaha. Not the Everglades. A nice in-between. 


1 comment:

Anna said...

cute pictures!!