Fort Marion? Most people today know the fort as Castillo de San Marcos which was built in 1672 by the Spanish to repel any future attacks by the British. Though St Augustine has changed hands many times the fort has remained a prominent statement of the city’s past. When Florida became a part of the United States the fort was renamed Fort Marion. During the Civil War the fort was occupied by the Union though it saw only one uprising during the Civil War (in 1861) which was quelled easily. However, by the time Henry Flagler and the Gilded Age elites arrived in St Augustine the fort was not actively used. However, there was one activity in which Flagler could see the fort as an asset and, beginning in 1895, Fort Marion was used as the grounds for a golf course which was used continually through the early 1900s.



Text by Kayleigh Gades