Last weekend I took my wife and her family on a trip to Fort Caroline … just a 10 minute drive from our house. Fort Caroline was a French settlement built right on the bank of the St. Johns River during the 1560s. Today the fort sits on the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve a National Park, which was named for the Native American who originally inhabited this area before European settlers came. I’m not sure how well the fort served the French, I know they ultimately defeated by the Spanish (who were settled 30 miles south in St. Augustine) and left Florida.

When you arrive there is a nice visitors center that has old artifacts found on the grounds… things like old cannons, spear heads, swords and canoes. You then take a 5 minute walk down to the river bank (where they have a boat dock) and into the fort. After exploring the fort, there is a 40-minute nature trail walk you can do through the forest. We did the nature trail, but I did not film it.

I set this video to the tune from Last of the Mohicans because of their similar French & Indian theme. It’s important to note that the original fort was destroyed in a hurricane in 1964, so what you see standing today is a recreation of fort built on the same grounds.