ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- For more than 300 years, the Castillo de San Marcos has stood guard over St. Augustine's bayfront, becoming a symbol of the city and the history of the First Coast.
But centuries have taken their toll and the fort continues to need upkeep. $4 million worth, according to the superintendent park.
St. Augustine City Commissioners passed a resolution, asking Congress to devise a reliable funding plan for national parks.
Gordie Wilson is the Superintendent of the Castillo de San Marcos.
"It's the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States," he said Tuesday.
It's a national park, and it's one of many which needs millions of dollars for deferred maintenance which is "maintenance we haven't caught up with yet," Wilson said.
He said much of the park's maintenance involves repairing the mortar and stones.
Wilson looked up at the top of the fort's walls, "Up here you can see the drainage system."
There are about 40 old drainage pipes around the fort. Water will drop out of those pipes which stick out of the walls.
"When the water comes out, it drains down the wall and it drains a specific location and spreads out," he explained.
That water erodes the stone.
Some of the old mortar -- put in between the coquina stones decades ago -- turned out to be destructive, so some of the mortar and stone need to be replaced. Even some of the wooden elements at the fort need replacing such as "doors, windows, window sills."
Wilson said admission generates $2 million a year at the fort and the federal government supplies $2 million more a year for the castillo and Fort Matanzas, but it's not enough to take care of salaries, operations, and all of the maintenance at the two parks.
"There are different projects we could probably accomplish if there was additional funding as well," Wilson noted.
Many -- if not most -- national parks are dealing with the same funding shortfalls. Work needs to be done to protect the national treasures, but not enough funding is coming in to do it, according to federal national parks list online.
Wilson gazed at the coquina walls and said, "Everything wears out after a while."
That goes for even a 300-year-old fort that has never fallen to a military enemy.