Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (known as Fort Mose) was established in 1738 as the first free African settlement in what would become the United States. It became a beacon of freedom for enslaved Africans in the British colonies of South Carolina and Georgia. Destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed again, its presence during the tumultuous conflict of the Civil War and its rich history of bravery and struggle for freedom was unknown until it was rediscovered in an archaeological dig in the mid-1980s. Fort Mose was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994. When the museum opened in 1998, visitors often wondered where the fort was located. After many years, the unseen fort will now be reconstructed. The Florida State Parks Foundation secured $1.2 million in grants and donations in 2022 to fund the reconstruction of the fort at the Fort Mose Historic State Park in St Augustine. Groundbreaking is expected to be in the fall of 2023, and completion is anticipated in mid-2024. Subscribe Now to learn more about this Untold Story.