Situated within the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, the Fort Caroline National Memorial commemorates one of the first contacts between native American Indians and Europeans during their venture into the New World. The memorial immortalizes the brief French presence in Florida vis-à-vis a colonial settlement on the banks of St. Johns River in Florida, led by René Goulaine de Laudonnière.

The bulk of the religious disputes and territorial battles that ensued following the establishment of the settlement were centred between the French and the Spanish, and a bloody massacre of the French settlers within Fort Caroline was orchestrated by the Spanish in the fall of 1565. Under Spanish reign, the fort was renamed as San Mateo, until 1569. As a site of deep historical and cultural significance, Fort Caroline National Memorial provides visitors with fascinating insight into the tumultuous history behind the Spanish and French colonization, as well as riveting documentations of life in the New World in 1564.