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Inlet map of Fort Matanzas National Monument in Florida. The land is cream white and the water pale blue. The present-day shorelines are highlighted in neon blue and the shoreline circa 1742 are indicated with gray lines and dots.

Extended Description

Three oblong landmasses run diagonally up and to the right in this map. The slice of land in the north has an arrow labeled “To St. Augustine.” Fort Matanzas, identified in red text, is on the southern edge of an island between the other two landmasses. The third, Anastasia Island, cuts up across the middle of the map.

Now to focus on the discrepancies between the blue borders and white land versus the gray lines and dots. The island on which Fort Matanzas is now is significantly different than it was around 1742. Whereas the current island is long and narrow, the eighteenth-century island was much smaller and angled the other way. The width of the current island was the length of the eighteenth-century island.

A single landmass in 1742 encompassed the northern segment here and most of the area to the east of and including the left half of the current-day island.

The western end of Anastasia Island has expanded west and south so it now juts west into what was the Matanzas Inlet circa 1742.

North is oriented to the right in this map.