Seawall
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In 1774-1775, the British repaired the seawall using stone rather than coquina like the Spanish before and the Americans to come.
According to Mr. Thomson (House of Representatives) for the Committee on Military Affairs in 1835, the seawall extended from Fort Marion to the St. Francis Barracks and so must have been extended at some point in the previous sixty years. He also reported that officers stationed at the Barracks had dismantled part of the Spanish-built seawall to build a wharf, and the resulting wave action threatened to undermine the walls of Fort Marion. The result of the damage also meant the town was inundated during storms or at high tide.
Prior to the January 7, 1835 request for $44,181.94 by Mr. Thomson to repair Fort Marion and the seawall, $20,000 had been earmarked in 1833 for repairs, but the funds were embezzled. As a result of the report, the early U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (recent West Point graduates) were brought in to rebuild the wall to ten feet high at low tide on a seven-foot base tapering to three-feet wide at the top. The seawall wrapped around the basin at the plaza where boats moored. The total rebuilding effort lasted from about 1833 to 1844 using coquina rock capped with New England granite, and costing $100,000. The rebuilding of parts of the seawall as well as repairs to Fort Marion were among the first Federal projects in the Florida Territory. Just two years after the improvements were completed, a hurricane battered the wall and parts of it collapsed.
Sporatic efforts in the next 150+ years were done to fix the wall although part of the wall was removed in the 1950s to widen Bay Street. After Tropical Storm Fay in 2008, the City of St. Augustine and the Federal Emergency Management Agency set aside around $7 million to build a new seawall. Completed in 2013, a new concrete and steel reinforced wall was built twelve feet further east and the space between the old and new walls filled in. Over the top of the space between the two walls, an improved public walkway is now available as a sidewalk with streetlights and landscaping.
An assessment in 2023 showed that parts of the seawall are again deteriorating. Starting in 2026, the wall will be repaired and raised as water comes over the current wall during hurricanes, King Tides, or heavy rainstorms that hit at the same time as high tide. The National Park Service and the Florida Department of Transportation will spend millions on this project, with a focus on the seawall around the Castillo down to the Bridge of Lions.
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The following books, articles, websites, and photographers were used to find the above photographs or illustrations:
Map 1 (c.1770s): Reynolds, Charles B. The Standard Guide: St. Augustine, East Coast, Indian River and Lake Worth. St. Augustine, FL: C.B. Reynolds, 1895.
Photograph 1 (1882/1885):Knibloe, Walt. F. Schneur's Illustrated Guide and History of St. Augustine, Fla. St. Augustine, FL: Chas. F. Schneur, 1883/1885.
Photograph 2 (1888): Wittemann, A. A Souvenir of St. Augustine. New York: A. Wittemann, 1888.
Photograph 3 (1895): Reynolds, Charles B. The Standard Guide: St. Augustine, East Coast, Indian River and Lake Worth. St. Augustine, FL: C.B. Reynolds, 1895.
Photograph 4 (1904): Art Work of Florida. Part 1, 5, 7, or 11. Introduction by George F. Fairbanks. Racine, WI: Art Photogravure Co., 1904.
Photograph 5 (1920s): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Roaring Twenties. Acadia Publishing, 2012.
Photograph 5 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Seawall North of the Bridge of Lions." June 10, 2025.
Photograph 6 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Sewall South of the Bridge of Lions." June 10, 2025.
Photograph 7 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Florida Historical Marker for the Seawall." June 10, 2025.
The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:
Bloomfield, Max. Bloomfield’s Illustrated Historical Guide, Embracing an Account of the Antiquities of St. Augustine, Florida (with map). To Which is Added a Condensed Guide of the St. John’s, Ocklawaha, Halifax, and Indian Rivers. St. Augustine, FL: Max Bloomfield, 1884.
Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Roaring Twenties. Acadia Publishing, 2012.
City of St. Augustine, Est. 1565. “Avenida Menendez Seawall.” https://www.citystaug.com/357/Avenida-Menendez-Seawall.
Edwards, Virginia. Stories of Old St. Augustine. St. Augustine, FL: C.F. Hamblen, Inc., 1973.
Florida-Fort Marion and Sea-Wall. Rep. No. 39, House of Representatives. 23rd Congress, 2nd Session. (January 7, 1835).
Gordon, Elsbeth “Buff.” Walking St. Augustine: An Illustrated Guide and Pocket History to America’s Oldest City. Univ. of Florida Press, 2015.
Historic Picturesque St. Augustine Florida. Jacksonville, FL: Duval News Co., [1933-1937].
Johnson, Scott. “Project to Rebuild St. Augustine’s Seawall Aims to Mitigate Flooding, But Some Worry It Will Hurt the Aesthetics.” New4Jax, September 24, 2025. https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2025/09/24/project-to-rebuild-st-augustines-seawall-aims-to-mitigate-flooding-but-some-worry-it-will-hurt-the-aesthetics/.
National Park Service: Castillo de San Marcos. “Second Public Meeting on Seawall Rehabilitation Project.” August 15, 2024. https://www.nps.gov/casa/learn/news/08-15-24-seawall-project.htm.
Rajtar, Steve, and Kelly Goodman. A Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida. 1st edition. The History Press, 2007.
Reynolds, Charles B. The Standard Guide: St. Augustine, East Coast, Indian River and Lake Worth. St. Augustine, FL: C.B. Reynolds, 1895.
West Point Society of North Florida and the Florida Department of State. “St. Augustine Sea Wall.” Historic Marker. St. Augustine, Florida.
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