Fort Caroline National Memorial

The need to compete with their ocean-spanning 16th-century rivals, the Spanish, chased the French across the Atlantic to Fort Caroline, where they made their first attempt at establishing a permanent settlement in 1564. Visitors will learn about the Timucuan Indians who inhabited the area for 1,000 years before the arrival of the French, the religious persecution that led the French to flirt with the idea of establishing Fort Caroline as a retreat for Huguenots, and the Spanish onslaught that destroyed the settlement only a year after its founding.