Fort Marion in VR is an immersive virtual reality experience that lets anyone explore Castillo de San Marcos—the historic Spanish fortress in St. Augustine, Florida—from anywhere in the world. Sponsored by Dr. Amy Giroux in connection with the National Park Service, the project makes one of the oldest masonry forts in the United States accessible to people who can’t visit in person, while offering experiences impossible during a real tour. Built in Unity, the virtual fort invites users to walk its grounds, enter areas normally closed to the public, and physically interact with the structure—opening doors and windows, lowering the drawbridge, and even firing the cannons through interactive tutorials and mini-games. NPCs with dialogue, an audio-visual tour, and historically grounded detail spanning the fort’s First Spanish, British, Second Spanish, and American periods bring three centuries of Florida history to life. By removing the physical and geographic barriers of an in-person visit—and adding hands-on interaction that site preservation would otherwise forbid—Fort Marion in VR turns a static historical landmark into a living, explorable classroom.
