Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, a unit of the National Park Service (NPS), invites you to participate in a civic engagement meeting to help determine the best way to provide access to, and education about, the recently acquired Spanish-American War Battery on Fort Caroline Road. The Spanish-American War Battery was constructed in April 1898 to protect the mouth of the St. Johns River against the Spanish fleet during tensions between the United States and Spain that resulted in the Spanish-American War of 1898.
The fort, which consists of two concrete gun emplacements and a munitions magazine, was built to emplace two 8-inch breach loading rifles on a strategic river bluff in order to protect Jacksonville, Florida, from naval attack. Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve wishes to provide educational and recreational opportunities for locals and visitors. The National Park Service is developing a treatment plan that provides a conceptual design for parking, trails, signage, and other site amenities intended to support park goals of stewardship and carefully considered public access.
The preserve would like your participation in determining the best way to provide access and interpretation at the site while preserving the historic character of the battery. A virtual meeting will be held on Nov. 12, 2020 at 6:00 PM. This meeting will provide an opportunity to learn more about this process and to share your input. A link is posted at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/span-am.
There are several development concerns that the preserve would like to get your input on including parking, accessibility considerations for pedestrian circulation through the site, views of the fort and river below, and interpretative information opportunities.
Please plan to attend so we can hear your thoughts to provide the best visitor experience possible.
For more information, visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/span-am,
Facebook at TimucuanPreserveNPS or call 904-805-7510.
Chris Hughes,
Superintendent Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
Tags: park planning civic engagement spanish american war
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
