USC&GS Isis

Crescent Beach is an unincorporated census-designated place in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. The population was 985 at the 2000 census.

Butler Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. The population was 4,978 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. Established by Frank B. Butler, who had been successful operating a grocery store and became a political activist, it was a resort for African Americans. The Lincolnville businessman bought land in the area between the Atlantic Ocean and the Matanzas River, and offered beach access to African Americans. It was the only beach open to them between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach.

Anastasia Island is a barrier island located off the northeast Atlantic coast of Florida in the United States. It sits east of St. Augustine, running north–south in a slightly southeastern direction to Matanzas Inlet. The island is about 14 miles (23 km) long and an average of 1 mile in width. It is separated from the mainland by the Matanzas River, part of the Intracoastal waterway. Matanzas Bay, the body of water between the island and downtown St. Augustine, opens into St. Augustine Inlet. Part of the island (the Davis Shores and Lighthouse Park neighborhoods) is within St. Augustine city limits, while other communities on the island include St. Augustine Beach, Coquina Gables, Butler Beach, Crescent Beach, and Treasure Beach. Fort Matanzas National Monument, a Spanish colonial-era fort built in 1740–1742, is located at the southern end of the island on Rattlesnake Island in the Intracoastal waterway within the park boundaries; it was designed to protect St. Augustine from attack via the Matanzas River.

Fort Matanzas National Monument (Spanish: Fuerte Matanzas) was designated a United States National Monument on October 15, 1924. The monument consists of a 1740 Spanish fort called Fort Matanzas, and about 100 acres (0.4 km2) of salt marsh and barrier islands along the Matanzas River on the northern Atlantic coast of Florida. It is operated by the National Park Service in conjunction with the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in the city of St. Augustine.

Matanzas Inlet is a channel in Florida between two barrier islands and the mainland, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the south end of the Matanzas River. It is 14 miles (23 km) south of St. Augustine, in the southern part of St. Johns County. The inlet is not stabilized by jetties, and thus is subject to shifting. Historic maps made by Spanish military engineers in the 18th century show that the inlet today has moved many hundreds of yards south of its location during the time of the Spanish Empire. In 1740, a British invasion force from Fort Frederica, Georgia blockaded this inlet, the southernmost access for boat travel between St. Augustine and Havana, Cuba. Shortly thereafter, in 1742, a coquina stone tower 50 feet (15 m) square by 30 feet (9.1 m) high, now called Fort Matanzas, was built by the Spanish authorities in Florida to safeguard this strategic inlet.

Summer Haven is an unincorporated community in southeast St. Johns County, Florida, United States, located just south of the Matanzas Inlet, on a narrow strip of land between a shallow marsh and the Atlantic Ocean.Summer Haven is a small beach resort which began with cottages used by farmers. It consists of approximately 60 structures, mostly single family homes.Around 1890, Thomas A. Mellon started vacationing in Summer Haven. Eventually the community attracted other well known people, including Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Owen D. Young, and author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.After severe nor’easters in 1962, Summer Haven was declared a disaster area, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed an 1,800-foot granite revetment along the northern portion. After Hurricane Dora in 1964, the existing revetment, which fronts the majority of the upland development in the reach, was extended by an additional 1,070 linear feet. South of the revetment, development is limited to one row of single-family residences. When possible, St. Johns County has been purchasing structures and lands in this southern area and not allowing further development.

St. Augustine Beach is a city in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,803 at the 2020 US census.

St. Augustine Shores is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 4,922.

The Matanzas State Forest is in the U.S. state of Florida. The 4,699-acre (19 km2) forest is located in northeastern Florida, near St. Augustine, though it is closer to Crescent Beach. Matanzas State Forest is bordered approximately by U.S. 1 to the west, State Road 206 to the north, the Matanzas River to the east, and the Faver-Dykes State Park to the south. Besides being owned by the Florida State Division of Forestry, Matanzas State Forest is also co-managed in cooperation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the St. Johns River Water Management District.

Faver-Dykes State Park is a Florida State Park located 15 miles south of St. Augustine, near the intersection of I-95 and US 1, and bordering Pellicer Creek, a designated state canoe trail. Activities include fishing, picnicking, boating, canoeing, camping and wildlife viewing. Among the wildlife of the park are white-tailed deer, bobcats, and river otters. There are many birds in the park, including bald eagles, falcons, and hawks, as well as egrets, wood storks, white ibis, wild turkeys, and herons.

Fort Fulton was established on February 21, 1840, between Old Kings Road and Pellicer Creek (west of present-day U.S. Highway 1) in present-day Flagler County, Florida. A January 17, 1840 article in the Florida Herald of St. Augustine stated, "Can anyone inform us why the Mounted Volunteer Company, raised in this city, and now stationed at Hewlett’s [Hewitt’s] Mill, is weakened by a detail of ten men subject to the order of the city council, and kept in town idle." This article suggests that Fort Fulton was most likely manned with militia volunteers since it was the only military post in the general area of Hewitt's Mill (which was located only about 1500 feet southwest from where Fort Fulton was built). Hewitt's Mill was a sawmill built in 1768 by John Hewitt on his 1,000-acre plot of land in St. Johns County. This sawmill is known to have supplied many wooden building materials to the St. Augustine area and surrounding plantations.

Anastasia State Park is a 1,600-acre (6.5 km2) state park in Florida, United States. Its location is on a peninsula on Anastasia Island across Matanzas Bay from downtown St. Augustine along the Atlantic coastal plain. This park has a variety of wildlife, birds and plants in a setting of beaches, tidal salt marsh, and marine and upland hammock. It is also home to the Old Spanish Coquina Quarries, an archaeological site from which the coquina stone used in the construction of the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine was mined, earning it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. Acquired by the state of Florida in 1949, Anastasia State Park has long been a favorite playground for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.