PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND FORMAT:
The Spanish settled St. Augustine on September 8, 1565. It was a military outpost that included three standing fortifications by the 1740’s. They were the Castillo de San Marcos on the east, Fort Matanzas to the south, and Fort Mose to the north.
Word of freedom spread to the African-American slaves in the English colonies in the Carolinas. The Spanish had decreed that freedom would be granted to any slave that reached the Spanish colony if they would convert to the Catholic religion. In 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established the new town Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, also known as Fort Mose, the first free black settlement in the Americas. These new soldiers posed a fierce line of defense as they would fight to the death to protect their freedom. Students sample a soldiers life in Spanish Florida, and learn how hard it was to start a new colony.
On Site Activities
· Candle dipping
· Rope making
· Colonial games
· Corn grinding
· Woodworking
· Smashing shells for tabby
· Weaving
· Fence Building
