Project

The first fortifications of San Lorenzo castle were built by prominent military engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli in 1595. The location, on a rocky knoll guarding the mouth of the Charges River, was of key importance, as it was on the route the Spanish used to transport more than half of their commodities from their colonies. (...)

The first fortifications of San Lorenzo castle were built by prominent military engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli in 1595. The location, on a rocky knoll guarding the mouth of the Charges River, was of key importance, as it was on the route the Spanish used to transport more than half of their commodities from their colonies. Shortly after the first construction, the castle was attacked and burnt to the ground by Englishman Francis Drake. The castle was rebuilt several times in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Between 1761 and 1768, noted military engineer Manuel Hernadez constructed the neo-classical castle that stands today. The last Spanish troops left San Lorenzo in 1821. In the nineteenth century the castle was used as a jail, a holding area for mail, a camping locale for travelers on their way to California during the Gold Rush, and by the U.S. military.