Similar to Charleston or Savannah, St. Augustine is a quaint, touristy city with a very long history. Main difference to the other two cities is that in St. Augustine the Spanish heritage is predominant. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America. Our last visit to the city was in 2000 and though, of course, the historical structures haven’t changed, tourism has picked up considerably. Right now the city is getting ready to celebrate its 450th birthday.
Juan Ponce de León (see pic) was the first to set foot on Florida in 1513 in his search for a Fountain of Youth – and gold –, without success. Finally, in 1565 Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the settlement "San Agustín". The Spanish needed a stronghold in Florida against the French and British interests in this part of the New World and as a safeguard on their ship route from the Carribean back to Spain. After two devasting attacks of British pirates (1586 Sir Francis Drake and 1668 Robert Searle) the massive and very well preserved Castillo de San Marcos was added in 1672. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years, then – 1763 – the territory briefly changed hands between Spain and Britain. The Brits ruled for only 20 years before 1783 the Spanish got the land back.
During the American War of Independence Florida played a part as a important Royal Colony – five times George Washington ordered his army to take over the so-called 14th Colony, but the British troops, with the help of local American Indians, were able to fend off all attemps by the U.S. Eventually, in 1821, Spain decided to cede Florida to the U.S. and 1845 Florida became the 27th State of the Union.
Only when Henry M. Flagler (1830-1913) a wealthy industrialist and founder of Standard Oil became interested, the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida picked up speed. Flagler (see pic) was the founder of what became the Florida East Coast Railway and this connection caused the region to become a popular tourist destination and vacation retreat.
St. Augustine's City Gate with its main axle, St. George Street (see pic), leads into the old Spanish town, which is sort of an openair museum with many superlatives: „Oldest School“ (see pic), „Oldest House“ or „Oldest Store“. An authentic and instructive lesson on St. Augustine's history is given in the Colonial Quarter (see below). Also, in the city center there are three famous and gorgeous hotels built during Flaglers times: the Alcazar (nowaday’s City Hall and Lightner Museum, 1887, see pic), the Ponce de León (Flagler College, 1888) and Casa Monica (still a hotel, 1888).
Well, there is a LOT of history in St. Augustine, one side we especially liked, but there is also another side, which shows at night: the city being a little decadent, morbid, screwy, a tad like New Orleans, with its specific smell, with live music bands inside and outside the many restaurants and bars, people standing around with their drinks and smokes. Also, the mixture of ethnic food – e.g. the Menorcan clam chowder which originates from the high percentage of mediterrannean settlers (Greek/Italian/Spain) – and the many ghost tours added to the feeling that there is some similarity in atmosphere to New Orleans.
When we checked in the Bayfront Marin House on Friday afternoon we got a large room with an ecclectic mix of modern-boutiquey and historic - very tasteful and nice! Our group was split up and sent to different hotels and the two of us lucked out to get this place. And
we were walking again briefly after check-in: First, to visit the Fountain of Youth Archeological Park - a living history park with re-enactors and archeological excavations, which brought back good memories to the times we worked as archeologists ourselves. Besides a native Timucua village (see pic) - the settlement of the native Americans living here – there is the 16th century Spanish village, side by side.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse: 219 steps to climb, but well worth the effort. Especially, since we got drinks and snacks first and an interesting presentation of one of the maritime archeologists working to retrieve artifacts from 18th century shipwreck off St. Augustine coast. Also, I learned that each and every lighthouse has a different color and pattern scheme outside and a different light rhythm as well. Also, didn't know, that the Frenchman Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788-1827) who produced the lenses, had a monopole on them.
Barbara, our St. Augustine contact and excellent trip organizer, had not only arranged a tight program for us, but had also arranged dinner this evening at the Columbia Restaurant, which is a Florida staple since 1905 with Spanish atmosphere and hugh portions of mostly Spanish food. We enjoyed excellent seafood and steaks. Saturday morning, we first visited the 450th birthday exhibition in St. Augustine Visitor Center: Tapestry: The Cultural Threads of First America. It showed in an interesting way how three intertwining cultures – Hispanics, Africans and Native Americans (see pic) – melted.
Very informative was the following park ranger’s tour through the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (see pics) with a canon demonstration, and, equally interesting was our following tour through the magnificently decorated Flagler College (see pics below), the former Hotel Ponce de Leon built by railroad magnate, Henry M. Flagler in 1888. It was one of the most exclusive resorts of its day and very elaboratly decorated, e.g. with the largest collection of Tiffany glass panels in the original context in the U.S.A.
Our bellies were about to burst – we ate and drank our way through St. Augustine’s culinary scene during a Culinary Walking Tours and got tastings at five different stops. Food and drinks showed the wide variety St. Augustine has to offer, e.g. great Greek food and cakes (see pics above).
Everybody was stuffed at the end and during the evening tour - after a short break at the hotel to pack and freshen up (it’s been very hot all day) - a ghostly pub tour, the group became a little slow; even all the delicious oysters and burgers being served at Meehan's Irish Pub were not as inticing any more by then. To see the Castillo by night was a special treat, though we didn't meet any ghosts...
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