Fort Caroline was the first permanent, year-round French colony in North America, founded in present-day Jacksonville, Florida in 1564, but it lasted only a year before being obliterated by the Spanish.

History
Fort Caroline was authorized as a National Memorial on September 21, 1950, and established on January 16, 1953. The memorial features a scaled-down reconstruction of the fort, based on historic renderings, and a visitor center. The memorial is administered in conjunction with Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, the memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.