History
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Barca Chata, Spanish for a flat-bottomed boat, was prevalent throughout the coastal regions of the Southeastern United States. Locally, flatboats date back over four centuries, and documents from 1602 refer to a Spanish government-owned Barca Chata in St Augustine. During the 1800s, flatboats, propelled by pole or paddle, could be found on many coastal southern plantations because most contained large areas of shallow marsh. Enslaved men and women used a Barca Chata to escape slavery. Fort Mose, now a state park in St. Augustine, was the first free African-American settlement in the United States, and the park has a replica Barca Chata built on-site.
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St. Augustine, Florida · United States
