WAKULLA COUNTY, FL — As America celebrates 250 years as a country, a historic state park in St. Marks holds a history that stretches back nearly double that — almost 500 years.
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The San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park sits at the confluence of the Wakulla and St. Marks rivers, where Spanish explorers first arrived in 1528, making it one of the oldest European settlements in the United States.
The first fort on the site was built in 1679, but was burned by pirates and later rebuilt. By 1739, a more permanent stone fort replaced the wooden structure.
Local historian Allen Gerrell explained how the stone fort was constructed using materials sourced directly from the surrounding land.
"What they did was they went across the Wakulla River and they quarried the limestone straight out of the ground. They quarried the rock straight out of the ground. I've been over there. How they did it, I don't know. They dug straight in the ground, pulled the stones out, squared them up, put them on P row, small boats brought them across the river," Gerrell said.
The remnants of that stone fort can still be seen today.
The fort changed hands multiple times over the centuries, occupied at various points by the Spanish, the English, the United States, and the Confederacy. The Apalachee Native Americans also inhabited the area for many years before the Spanish arrived. Andrew Jackson seized the fort in 1818.
The site also played a role in the Civil War. Union forces attempted to advance up the river to take the fort, but the shallow water stopped them.
"In 1865, Union forces were planning on coming up the river and taking the fort. They didn't realize the river was like it was, which is not the way it is today. It was very shallow. When the heavy draft steamers tried to come up the river, they ran aground. They couldn't make it up here. They never got within range of the 32-pound cannons on the walls up here; they never got within range for their guns to shoot here," Gerrell said.
That failed advance led Union forces to march overland to the Battle of Natural Bridge, which helped make Tallahassee the only capital east of the Mississippi River not captured during the Civil War.
Beyond its military history, the site served a critical economic role for the region.
"This is the closest, deep water port to Tallahassee, which was the transportation; they didn't have railroads, they didn't have highways, they didn't have airplanes. They had to travel by boat. That was the way they got all their supply in and out of this area. Anything kind of commerce was built using the river as the highway," Gerrell said.
Today, visitors and locals continue to come to the park to connect with that history firsthand.
"There's folks that always come down, and they try to find relics and everything. You know, the tide running in and out on the up and down tides, you know they're down there looking in the water, because even to this day, you can still get lucky and find something. It's pretty cool," St. Marks neighbor Joe Crousore said.
Gerrell said preserving history like that of San Marcos de Apalache helps prevent repeating the errors of the past.
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