Action News Jax confirmed that the Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Parks are closed due to the government shutdown.
Action News Jax’s Madison Foglio spoke with people visiting the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine today about its closure.
“Super sad,” visitor Alison Causey said. “Super disappointed.”
Causey is one of the dozens of people traveling from all over the country to visit the Castillo de San Marcos National Park. Causey and her family are from Reno, Nevada. They are traveling the US in an RV to visit all of the National Parks. I saw her walking up to the Castillo, and we broke the news to her.
“We’re disappointed,” Causey said. “Like I said, we came to St. Augustine for a purpose to visit history, and this is part of history…now we might not get to see it.”
According to the National Parks Service Contingency Plan released by the Department of the Interior, roughly 2/3rds of the National Parks Service employees will be furloughed.
However, the national parks will generally remain accessible to the public during the shutdown.
The plan says, “Park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors.”
However, that’s not the case for the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine. When we walked up to the entrance, the doors were locked. Although Alison is sad about not being able to go inside the monument, she really is concerned for the park rangers.
“For sure, I don’t want anyone to lose their job. I don’t want anyone to be furloughed. It’s enough to put bread on the table as it is, so to be furloughed and lose hours and lose pay. It’s going to be a trickle down effect for sure,” Causey said.
Alison says she plans to make another visit to St. Augustine when the government is not shut down.
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