| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — A Defense of the 1st Order |
| | Spain built Castillo San Felipe del Morro, the massive fortification in front of you to guard San Juan harbor. To control the harbor was to control the entrance to the Caribbean Sea and access to the riches of the New World.
Puerto Rico was the first major island with fresh water that ships encountered as they sailed west from Europe. San Juan’ excellent harbor was the first secure, deep-water port. The nation that controlled the harbor could protect their merchant ships and send warships . . . — Map (db m60062) HM |
| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — Defending San Juan |
| | Castillo San Felipe del Morro, the fortress across the broad field in front of you, protected San Juan Harbor. It is part of an extensive fortification system built by Spain over a 250-year period. The major surviving parts of these fortifications---which you can visit today--- make up San Juan National Historic Site.
More to See
Discover Castillo San Cristobal, the city wall, and Fort San Juan de la Cruz. Walk on the Paseo del Morro along San Juan Bay beneath San Felipe del Morro’s towering walls. — Map (db m60060) HM |
| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — Firepower |
| | This deck housed San Cristobal’s main cannon battery. In terms of firepower, it was the strongest of the fortification’s defenses. If attackers got past defenses farther east, cannon from here would drive them back.
Did Spanish troops ever fire in anger from this deck? In 1797 the British attacked from two miles to the east. Cannon from this battery and those in San Cristobal’s outer defenses shelled the British to keep them from landing east of the San Juan Islet.
This deck, . . . — Map (db m60048) HM |
| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — In Defense of San Juan |
| | At this site you can sample a few of San Juan’s historic fortifications. Features seen here date from the 1760’s through the 1960’s, the latter part of San Juan’s military history.
The concrete blocks scattered on the lawn were left by the U.S. Army, which was here from 1898 through 1960. In fact, the grass-roofed building you are standing on---now housing the park visitor facilities and offices—was built in 1942 as a World War II command post. The other features seen here were all . . . — Map (db m60046) HM |
| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — National Historic Site — San Juan — Puerto Rico |
| | Here in San Juan are the oldest European type masonry fortifications in United States Territory. The historic site includes the Spanish built forts of El Morro, El Canuelo, San Cristobal, Casa Blanca and the old city walls. These structures date from 1525-1787. They were built to create and impregnable position at the eastern entrance to the Caribbean Sea. The unsurpassed strategic location of San Juan Harbor made the island of Puerto Rico of vital importance to the Spanish imperial system in . . . — Map (db m60187) HM |
| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — The Heart of San Cristobal |
| | You are standing in the heart of Castillo San Cristobal, its main plaza, or plaza de armas. Completed by 1797, it looked then much as you see it now. This plaza de armas witnessed the daily events of military life in a Spanish fortress for more than a century.
Here on the main plaza floor, troops drilled, were inspected, and assembled for formal events. The vaulted rooms around the plaza---called casemates----housed officers’ quarters, barracks, storage areas, the kitchen and the latrine. . . . — Map (db m60051) HM |
| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — The Main Plaza |
| | This is Castillo San Felipe del Morro’s main plaza, called the plaza de armas. Completed around 1780, it looked then much as you see it now. This plaza witnessed the activities of daily life in a Spanish fortress for more than a century.
On the plaza floor in front of you troops drilled, stood inspections, and assembled for formal events. The large, vaulted rooms that surround the plaza, called casemates, housed a kitchen, chapel, storage areas, officers’ quarters, and barracks for . . . — Map (db m60063) HM |
| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — Three Flags |
| | The National Park Service flys three flags over the fortifications at San Juan National Historic Site: the Burgundy Cross, the flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the flag of the United States of America.
The Burgundy Cross was the Spanish military flag that flew here during most of the Spanish Colonial period. It was adopted in 1506 by Philip the Handsome, King of Castile, to honor his mother, Mary Duchess of Burgundy. At that time, Burgundy was a territory of Spain. — Map (db m60050) HM |
| Puerto Rico (San Juan County), San Juan — What About Water? |
| | On a small island surrounded by the sea, where would hundreds of soldiers get water to drink? They had to collect rainwater.
Most of Castillo San Cristobal’s water was stored directly beneath your feet. The masonry cylinders in front of you enclose wells that gave access to five huge cisterns, each 57 feet long, 24 feet high, and 17 feet wide.
Combined, San Cristobal’s cisterns can hold about 870,000 gallons of water. Every floor and roof in the fortification was designed to catch . . . — Map (db m60047) HM |
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