If the seashell-studded walls of the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument could talk, the chorus of voices would reverberate around the stony fortress louder than cannon fire. Lingering like echoes of the blasts still heard during today’s reenactments, stories of those who have passed through this military stronghold turned national park trace back more than three centuries, spanning tragedies and triumphs that predate our country’s birth.
“This is where America began,” says Greg Utech, a longtime park ranger. “St. Augustine is
