Historic Seawall Stabilization Environmental Assessment, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

The National Park Service is considering stabilization of the existing historic seawall that protects the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument from the waters of Matanzas River and the Atlantic Ocean. Castillo de San Marcos is located on the Matanzas River in downtown St. Augustine, Florida. The historic seawall is a portion of a more extensive seawall system that helps to protect the city of St. Augustine from soil erosion, and also provides some protection from high tides, hurricanes, and storm surges along the Atlantic Ocean coast. Flood protection is limited as the seawall is linear along a northsouth axis and floodwaters can go around the north and south ends of the seawall and enter the city, limited only by ground elevation. The city of St. Augustine seawall extends from the Florida National Guard Headquarters to just north of Castillo de San Marcos, a distance of approximately 4,700 feet.

The seawall at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, constructed in the mid 19th century, is an historic structure that was originally constructed to protect the Castillo de San Marcos and surrounding property. The seawall has protected the fort for over 160 years, but is beginning to fail. Failure of the seawall would pose a serious threat to the integrity of the oldest fortification in the continental United States. The purpose of the proposed project is to rehabilitate this historic seawall, which provides protection for the
structures and landscape of Castillo de San Marcos.

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Table of Contents   (549.7 KB, PDF file) Chapters 1-5   (4.3 MB, PDF file) Appendix A and B   (2.4 MB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.