“The Ribault Monument, the highest point in Duval County. It’s near Fort Caroline Road and on a clear day you can see Mayport Naval Base and all its ships. At one time this monument was at Mayport. My blind friend Carl Bolton is standing there” LS
The Ribault Monument is part of Fort Caroline National Memorial and commemorates the landing of Jean Ribault near the mouth of the St. Johns River in 1562. In 1924 the Florida Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution had a piece of land donated near Mayport for the monument designed by Charles Adrian Pillars who also created the Life sculpture in Jacksonville’s Memorial Park as well as the statues of Edmund Kirby Smith and John Gorrie which stand in the statuary hall in the Capitol building in Washington, DC. When Naval Station Mayport was established in 1941 the public could no longer get access to the monument so it was moved several times until it ended up at it’s current location on St. Johns Bluff overlooking the St. Johns River in 1958. This photo is undated.
Tags: Charles Adrian Pillars, Fort Caroline, historic photography, Mayport, National Memorial, Ribault Monument, sculpture, St. Johns Bluff, vintage photograph
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Fort Caroline ! Ribault. I live just off of Fort Caroline Road on Ashley Manor Way near the end of Monument Road. Could you give me some directions, please?
Take Fort Caroline Road or Monument Road North past the Hidden Hills area of Jacksonville. There will be a turnoff to the Fort Caroline National Memorial. They have a re-creation of the fort and the Ribault Monument still stands there. https://www.nps.gov/timu/learn/historyculture/foca.htm