Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose
Dublin Core
Creator
Title
Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose
Alternative Title
Moosa
Fort Mose
Negroe Fort
Fort Mose Historic Park
Fort Mose Historic State Park
Contributor
The Spanish Government
Fort Mose Historical Society
Florida State Parks System
Date Created
1738
Date Modified
1740
1752
1763
1812
1980s
1996
2009
2010s-2025
Type
This historic site was originally a settlement.
This historic site is now a Florida State Park.
Description
Beginning in 1686, the Spanish government in Florida began to advertise that they would give slaves their freedom, religious sanctuary, and royal protection in exchange for conversion to Catholicism and a declaration of allegiance to the king of Spain. Roughly 100 African-born slaves fled British plantations for the city of St. Augustine by the 1730s.
In 1738, ten years after the slave trade in St. Augustine was abolished, Govenor Manuel de Montiano sanctioned the establishing of a settlement and fort, Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, about two miles north of St. Augustine as the new home of escaped slaves from the colonies of North and South Carolina and Georgia. It became the first legally-sanctioned free black town in what is now the United States. A Gambian escaped slave with the baptized name of Francisco Menéndez became captain of the militia and de facto leader of the settlement.
In 1740, General/Govenor Oglethorpe of Georgia invaded Spanish Florida and beseiged the Castillo de San Marcos. Fort Mose was captured and then destroyed in the process. Until 1752, the black inhabitants from Mose lived among the Spanish in St. Augustine, but that year, the previously abandoned Fort Mose was rebuilt, and enlarged, in a slightly different location. Fort Mose was abandoned when Florida became a colony of England in 1763 as the inhabitants fled to Cuba with the Spanish. However, the fort was maintained and used by the British during their occupation and by the Spanish in the 2nd Spanish Period before being permanently destroyed in 1812 after a group called the "Florida Patriots" had captured it and were using it as a base of operations. It fell into ruin before its rediscovery more than 150 years later.
In the 1980s, archaeological excavations by Dr. Kathleen Deagan and Jane Landers located the site of Fort Mose. The 1738 fort is now part of the salt marsh on the west side of the Tolomato River and the remains of the 1752 fort are on an island or also underwater. In the late 1980s, the State of Florida purchased the land from the private landowner. In 1994, the site was designated as a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Through grassroots efforts by the Fort Mose Historical Society, which was founded in 1996, the story of Fort Mose is being restored. The National Parks Service declared that Fort Mose was a precurser historic site to the Underground Railroad Network. A state parks' visitor center was completed in 2007. The replica fort was completed and opened to the public on May 9, 2025. Archaeological digs continue at Fort Mose.
In 1738, ten years after the slave trade in St. Augustine was abolished, Govenor Manuel de Montiano sanctioned the establishing of a settlement and fort, Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, about two miles north of St. Augustine as the new home of escaped slaves from the colonies of North and South Carolina and Georgia. It became the first legally-sanctioned free black town in what is now the United States. A Gambian escaped slave with the baptized name of Francisco Menéndez became captain of the militia and de facto leader of the settlement.
In 1740, General/Govenor Oglethorpe of Georgia invaded Spanish Florida and beseiged the Castillo de San Marcos. Fort Mose was captured and then destroyed in the process. Until 1752, the black inhabitants from Mose lived among the Spanish in St. Augustine, but that year, the previously abandoned Fort Mose was rebuilt, and enlarged, in a slightly different location. Fort Mose was abandoned when Florida became a colony of England in 1763 as the inhabitants fled to Cuba with the Spanish. However, the fort was maintained and used by the British during their occupation and by the Spanish in the 2nd Spanish Period before being permanently destroyed in 1812 after a group called the "Florida Patriots" had captured it and were using it as a base of operations. It fell into ruin before its rediscovery more than 150 years later.
In the 1980s, archaeological excavations by Dr. Kathleen Deagan and Jane Landers located the site of Fort Mose. The 1738 fort is now part of the salt marsh on the west side of the Tolomato River and the remains of the 1752 fort are on an island or also underwater. In the late 1980s, the State of Florida purchased the land from the private landowner. In 1994, the site was designated as a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Through grassroots efforts by the Fort Mose Historical Society, which was founded in 1996, the story of Fort Mose is being restored. The National Parks Service declared that Fort Mose was a precurser historic site to the Underground Railroad Network. A state parks' visitor center was completed in 2007. The replica fort was completed and opened to the public on May 9, 2025. Archaeological digs continue at Fort Mose.
Has Part
This site is now part of the Florida State Park System.
Mediator
For information about hours of operation and admission fees, please visit Fort Mose's homepage.
Rights Holder
Relation
This historic site is adjacent to and partially under the water of the Tolomato River/Intercoastal.
Source
The following books, articles, websites, and photographers were used to find the above photographs or illustrations:
Map (1791): Landers, Jane. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida. St. Augustine, FL: St Augustine Historical Society, 1992.
Photograph 1 (1993): Adams, William R., and Paul L. Weaver, III. Historic Places of St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Visitor’s Guide. St. Augustine, FL: Southern Heritage Press, 1993.
Photograph 2 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Fort Mose." October 23, 2025.
Photograph 3 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Fort Mose." October 23, 2025.
Photograph 4 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Fort Mose." October 23, 2025.
Photograph 5 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Florida Historical Marker for Fort Mose." October 23, 2025.
The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:
Adams, William R. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Historical Guide. Pineapple Press, 2009.
Deagan, Kathleen and Darcie MacMahon. Fort Mose: Colonial America's Black Fortress of Freedom. Univ. Press of Florida, 1995.
Florida State Parks: The Real Florida. “History of Fort Mose.” 2025. https://www.floridastateparks.org/learn/history-fort-mose.
Landers, Jane. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida. St. Augustine, FL: St Augustine Historical Society, 1992.
Philpott, Don. “A History of the Florida State Parks Foundation.” Florida State Parks Foundation. 2022. https://floridastateparksfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/A-History-of-the-Florida-State-Parks-Foundation-12-2019.pdf.
Visit Florida and the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources. Florida Black Heritage Trail. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of State, 2019.
Visit St. Augustine. “Fort Mose Historic State Park.” https://www.visitstaugustine.com/history/place/fort-mose.
Viti, Lucia. “Fort Mose in St. Augustine Was the First Free Slave Settlement in the Future U.S. See Inside.” The St. Augustine Record, September 15, 2025. https://www.staugustine.com/picture-gallery/news/hidden-gems/2025/09/15/look-around-fort-mose-the-first-free-slave-settlement-in-what-would-be-the-united-states/85794835007/.
Map (1791): Landers, Jane. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida. St. Augustine, FL: St Augustine Historical Society, 1992.
Photograph 1 (1993): Adams, William R., and Paul L. Weaver, III. Historic Places of St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Visitor’s Guide. St. Augustine, FL: Southern Heritage Press, 1993.
Photograph 2 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Fort Mose." October 23, 2025.
Photograph 3 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Fort Mose." October 23, 2025.
Photograph 4 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Fort Mose." October 23, 2025.
Photograph 5 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Florida Historical Marker for Fort Mose." October 23, 2025.
The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:
Adams, William R. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Historical Guide. Pineapple Press, 2009.
Deagan, Kathleen and Darcie MacMahon. Fort Mose: Colonial America's Black Fortress of Freedom. Univ. Press of Florida, 1995.
Florida State Parks: The Real Florida. “History of Fort Mose.” 2025. https://www.floridastateparks.org/learn/history-fort-mose.
Landers, Jane. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida. St. Augustine, FL: St Augustine Historical Society, 1992.
Philpott, Don. “A History of the Florida State Parks Foundation.” Florida State Parks Foundation. 2022. https://floridastateparksfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/A-History-of-the-Florida-State-Parks-Foundation-12-2019.pdf.
Visit Florida and the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources. Florida Black Heritage Trail. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of State, 2019.
Visit St. Augustine. “Fort Mose Historic State Park.” https://www.visitstaugustine.com/history/place/fort-mose.
Viti, Lucia. “Fort Mose in St. Augustine Was the First Free Slave Settlement in the Future U.S. See Inside.” The St. Augustine Record, September 15, 2025. https://www.staugustine.com/picture-gallery/news/hidden-gems/2025/09/15/look-around-fort-mose-the-first-free-slave-settlement-in-what-would-be-the-united-states/85794835007/.
Rights
Flagler College’s Rare Books, Floridiana & Institutional Repository are neither the original nor current copyright owner for the photographs. Please contact the publisher or source cited for each photograph to obtain a copy and/or permission to reproduce these items.
Is Referenced By
The following St. Augustine Fiction books feature this historic site as a location:
Anna's Long Journey to Freedom
Barden, the Ranger, or, The Flower of the Uchees
Doris Kingsley, Child and Colonist
Living the Dream
A New Start
The Other Side of Free
Secret Soldiers: Into the Flames
A Slice of Moon
Date Submitted
This record was last updated on October 28, 2025.
Collection
Citation
Govenor Manuel de Montiano, “Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose,” St. Augustine Fiction, accessed May 17, 2026, https://staugustinefiction.omeka.net/items/show/326.