Abandoned Towns
Panorama of green salt marsh at Fort Mose under a cloudy sky, with a sandy path curving through the grass and scattered trees and palms

Railroad and road town

Fort Mose

A fortified town that Spanish Florida recognized in 1738 for Africans who had escaped slavery in the English colonies. Its people left for Cuba in 1763 and the marsh took the site. A state park and a recreated fort tell the story.

29°55′40″N 81°19′31″W · ≈3 ft

Photo: Waters.Justin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

State park

Fort Mose Historic State Park's grounds are open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and are free. The visitor center and museum open Thursday to Monday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ($2 per adult), and the fort opens for tours at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Checked October 19, 2026, on floridastateparks.org.

Overview

A free Black town on Spain's frontier

From 1687, people escaping slavery in the English colonies made their way south to Spanish St. Augustine. In 1693 the Spanish crown offered them freedom if they became Catholics and served in the militia. By 1738 more than 100 had gained asylum, and that year Gov. Manuel de Montiano had a fortified town built for them about 2 miles north of the city. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose was led by Capt. Francisco Menéndez, a Mandinga man born in the Gambia region. Florida State Parks calls it the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what would become the United States.

Mose guarded the northern approach to St. Augustine. In 1740 Georgia's James Oglethorpe besieged the city and British troops took over the abandoned fort; on June 26 the free Black militia and Spanish troops retook it in a surprise attack, remembered as the Battle of Bloody Mose. The town was rebuilt nearby in 1752. When Spain gave Florida to Britain in 1763, its people sailed for Cuba.

The site went back to the marsh and was forgotten until a local historian, Jack Williams, identified its general location on an old map in 1968. Archaeologists excavated it from 1986 to 1988. Today it is a 40-acre state park with a museum, a boardwalk over the marsh and, since May 2025, a recreated fort.

Timeline

Asylum, war and exile

  1. The first freedom seekers reach Spanish Florida: eight men, two women and a three-year-old child.
  2. King Charles II of Spain offers asylum in Florida to people escaping slavery who convert to Catholicism and serve four years in the militia.
  3. Gov. Manuel de Montiano orders a fortified town built about 2 miles north of St. Augustine: Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose. Capt. Francisco Menéndez, born in the Gambia region and captain of the free Black militia since 1726, leads it. About 100 people live there.
  4. James Oglethorpe's army from Georgia besieges St. Augustine. Gov. Montiano orders Mose abandoned after Indian allies of the British kill some of its people, and British troops occupy it.
  5. A force of 300 Spanish soldiers and free Black militia surprises the garrison of 120 Highlander rangers and 30 Indians. The garrison loses 68 killed and 34 captured; the attackers lose 10. The fort is wrecked in the fighting, and Oglethorpe soon gives up the siege.
  6. Mose is rebuilt at a slightly different spot. A 1759 census counts 22 palm-thatched huts and 67 people.
  7. Under the Treaty of Paris, Spain hands Florida to Britain. Some 400 Black residents of the colony, enslaved and free, leave for Cuba with the Spanish.
  8. After British and Spanish use and a Patriot occupation, the fort is destroyed for the last time in an ambush.
  9. Jack Williams identifies the general location from an old map.
  10. A team led by Kathleen Deagan, Jane Landers and John Marron excavates and identifies the site of the 1752 fort. The 1738 fort has never been found.
  11. Fort Mose is listed on the National Register and named a National Historic Landmark.
  12. A recreated fort opens in the state park, after a groundbreaking in January 2024.

The park today

What you'll see

The visitor center, April 2008, before the fort was recreated
The visitor center, April 2008, before the fort was recreated · Photo: Ebyabe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The boardwalk to the observation area, April 2008
The boardwalk to the observation area, April 2008 · Photo: Ebyabe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Florida State Parks says plainly that "there are no remains of the original earth and wooden structures." What you see is the land where the settlement stood, a visitor center and museum, the self-guided Flight to Freedom Trail with interpretive panels, an observation boardwalk, picnic areas and a kayak launch. The recreated fort opened on May 9, 2025. At the opening, the Fort Mose Historical Society's president spoke of a 16-minute film and a museum with artifacts, a timeline and cannons. The fort opens during tours, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and for scheduled events.

On the first Saturday of each month the Fort Mose Militia drills, with musket firing demonstrations. The marsh is good for birds; the park names great blue herons, bald eagles and white ibis.

None of the historic sheets below names Fort Mose. They show the marsh east of US 1 and Robinson Creek winding through it, with Kurths Island farther east toward the river. The 1937 sheet shows railroad yards just west; the 1956 sheet marks the Ponce de Leon Golf Club to the north and Comatchie Island to the east.

  • Visitor center and museum
  • Recreated fort (2025)
  • Flight to Freedom Trail
  • Observation boardwalk over the marsh
  • Kayak launch and picnic pavilion
USGS topographic map of the marsh east of US 1 north of St. Augustine
USGS The National Map, topo. US 1 runs north and south past the park; tidal creeks wind through the marsh to the east, and the San Sebastian River lies to the west.
Aerial view of US 1, apartments and the salt marsh at Fort Mose
Aerial imagery, same area. Apartments and houses line US 1; the salt marsh and its creeks open out to the east.

Historic maps

Fort Mose on USGS maps, 1937–1981

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Fort Mose, 1937
St Augustine sheet, 1937, 1:24,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Day trip

Plan a day trip to Fort Mose from St. Augustine

Take it with you

Day trip itinerary

The essentials, the sample day with boxes to tick, what to photograph and the coordinates, on two printable pages. Handy where there's no signal.

Download the PDF (476 KB)

Fort Mose is six minutes from downtown St. Augustine, so it fits into a morning. Come Thursday to Monday, when the visitor center is open and the fort opens for tours at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The grounds, trail and boardwalk are open every day.

A sample day

  1. Leave downtown St. Augustine north on US 1.
  2. Walk the Flight to Freedom Trail and the boardwalk over the marsh.
  3. Join the fort tour, about an hour.
  4. The visitor center and museum, with its 16-minute film.
  5. Lunch at the picnic pavilion, or back in town.

On the first Saturday of the month, plan around the militia muster.

What to photograph and film

  • The recreated fort. It opens only for tours and events, so plan interior shots around the 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. tour.
  • The marsh from the boardwalk. Wide views over the salt marsh where the settlement stood.
  • Birds. The park names great blue herons, bald eagles and white ibis. Bring a long lens.
  • The militia muster. Musket firing on the first Saturday of each month makes good video.

Map & directions

Getting there

The park is just north of downtown St. Augustine, off US 1 (North Ponce de Leon Boulevard) on Fort Mose Trail. From Jacksonville, take I-95 south and then US 1.

USGS topographic map of US 1 from St. Augustine north to Fort Mose, with routes drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown St. Augustine2.7 miabout 6 min
  1. From downtown St. Augustine, take Cordova Street, Carrera Street and Riberia Street to West Castillo Drive.0.6 mi
  2. Turn right on North Ponce de Leon Boulevard (US 1) and drive north.2.0 mi
  3. Turn right on Fort Mose Trail to the park.0.1 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The park entrance is on Fort Mose Trail, off US 1 (North Ponce de Leon Boulevard).
  • The park lists parking on site.

Photos

Photos

Visitor reports

Been to Fort Mose?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Fort Mose

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Florida index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Florida State Parks, Fort Mose Historic State Park and its hours and fees page, read October 19, 2026: hours, fees, tours, address, phone, the 40-acre site, amenities, the militia muster, birds, "no remains of the original" structures.
  2. Wikipedia, "Fort Mose", retrieved October 2026: the 1693 decree, Montiano, Menéndez, the 1738 population, the 1752 fort and the 1759 census, the 1763 departure, 1812, Jack Williams and the 1968 identification, the 1986–88 excavations, the 1994 listings, the 2024 groundbreaking, coordinates.
  3. Wikipedia, "Siege of St. Augustine (1740)": the June 26, 1740, attack on Mose, forces and losses, the end of the siege.
  4. Fort Mose Historical Society, "The Fort Mose Story": the first arrivals in 1687, more than 100 by 1738, Menéndez, the move to Cuba.
  5. Noah Hertz, "Centuries later, Fort Mose finally has a fort again," Jacksonville Today, May 9, 2025: the opening of the recreated fort, the film, museum and fort grounds.
  6. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits