Juan Ponce de Leon, the great Conquistador, colonizer and first governor of Puerto Rico, never walked the halls of Casa Blanca, his family's fortress home in Old San Juan. While it was being built, in 1521, he was struck by an Indian's arrow in the jungles of Florida. You can walk the restored halls of the city's oldest fort and try and find his fountain of youth.
Casa Blanca is witness to Puerto Rico history, until La Fortaleza was built in 1533, it was the city's only defense against attacks by the Carib Indians. Casa Blanca was sold to the Spanish government by family descendants more than 250 years later. The Spaniards used it to house engineers who were building El Morro and San Cristobal forts and later added barracks to house Spanish soldiers. In 1898, Casa Blanca became the official residence of the Commander of U.S. Armed Forces deployed in Puerto Rico. The Army returned this historic national