Florida’s northeast communities have created a new self-guided tour to showcase locations where Black residents have made a major impact. Their new St. Johns County Black Heritage Trail highlights 20 historic sites that people can visit to learn more about the role of Black history in Florida and beyond.
The trail’s development was a collaborative effort sponsored by the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Florida Division of Historical Resources. The programming includes a 64-page guidebook, a website with interactive maps, and new signage at each of the historical sites.
The tour includes key locations in St. Augustine, a city founded by Spanish conquistadors in 1565 that became a center of the Spanish Empire in Florida. The Spanish held the city with the aid of Africans and Haitians. Fort Mosé, the nation’s first free African settlement, was founded there when Africans fled enslavement in nearby English and French colonies.
Other stops on the tour include Butler Beach, one of the few beaches in the area developed for African Americans, and the Lincolnville Historic District, a neighborhood founded by freedmen in 1866 that became a focal point of the Civil Rights Movement leading up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs, a Florida historian who helped design the tour, says that the trail helps demonstrate that Black history in the Americas was not exclusively grounded in slavery.
“Our past in America is often viewed only through the lens of slavery, but part of the story in St. Augustine is recognizing that we came here as free people,” Hobbs said. “We arrived alongside Spanish and other European settlers. There were leaders among that group who served as translators, guides, and intermediaries, helping to facilitate contact between Indigenous Americans and Europeans.”
She added that stories about the Spanish colonial presence in Florida often overlook the leadership role of Black people in the formation of St. Johns County. Examining this and looking at the establishment of places like Fort Mosé broadens our understanding of Black history beyond the confines of chattel slavery.
“There’s even a story about Jorge Biassou,” Hobbs added, “who was of Haitian descent. He participated in the Haitian Revolution and was somewhat of a mercenary, willing to work for whoever paid him the most. He ended up with the Spanish and spent time in St. Augustine, where he actually led a defense of the city. This highlights a fascinating history of the African diaspora that more people should know about.”
Thomas Jackson, a founding member of the Fort Mosé Historical Society, told the AmNews that when he was young, older adults spoke about Fort Mosé, but with little proof of it, most young people didn’t really believe it had been a real place.
“On Easter Sunday, we’d go to church,” Jackson recalled: “After church, we would go to the parade downtown, and then we would also go to the Castillo de San Marcos, which is the Spanish fortress in downtown St. Augustine. When we would go to that fort, a lot of the old-timers would tell us, ‘You know, we had a fort too!’ And I used to kind of wonder, well, is that true or was it kind of a lot of wishful thinking, because who would give us a fort?”
When he attended Florida A&M University (FAMU), Jackson was in a class with Dr. James N. Eaton, who encouraged him to explore the history of his native city. That led Jackson to investigate and really appreciate the founding of Fort Mosé. When organizing began in the 1990s to support a formal interpretation of the fort’s original site, he joined the effort.
Jackson worked with other locals to create a civil society organization that, on June 26, 1996, traveled to the site of Fort Mosé and voted to support the creation of the Fort Mosé Historical Society. They started fundraising, recruiting volunteers, and taking on various initiatives so that they could develop and share the Fort Mosé story. Today, Fort Mosé has a 10,000-square-foot museum and regularly holds music events and historic re-enactments.
“This project brings greater recognition to the people and places that helped build and define St. Johns County,” Brenda Swann, director of grants and operations at St. Johns Cultural Council said in a statement. “We hope it inspires reflection, pride, and a deeper understanding of our shared history.”
