Bob and Gail's Next Adventure: St. Augustine

For Joni’s visit we had developed an itinerary of touring the surrounding cities and beaches. Checking the weather (don’t all good boaters do that at least twice a day?) we decided to go to St. Augustine first, as the cooler weather would be better for touring a city, saving the hotter days for the beaches. We had a early start as it was an hour long drive and we wanted to get one of the first tour trolleys. It is a “hop on, hop off” trolley that allows us to see what we want to see in detail and get a running commentary/history of the town between stops. I think we could all recite most of the commentary by heart after two days!

Off we go!

St. Augustine is the oldest, continually occupied European settlement in the continental US, 42 years before Jamestown, and 55 years before Plymouth Rock. It was nicknamed “the ever-faithful city” by the Spaniards because of its endurance through so many difficult times. The town was burned down at least 4 times and changed hands frequently in its early history.

The first mission in St. Augustine was Nombre de Dios *Name of God”. The cross was sculpted to commemorate the 400th anniversary of St. Augustine.

The Chapel has been rebuilt 3 times – destroyed by fire, pirates, and a storm.

The cemetery is called the “Sacred Acre” and is where all of the founding nuns are buried as well as 6 Federal soldiers buried during and after the civil war. The rest of the graves are the early towns people. It is a beautiful acre!

Lots of magnolia trees – nearly every tree has a memorial plaque at its base.

This beautiful prayer is near the Chapel – a prayer to live by.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an Instrument of Your Peace.

Where there is Hatred, let me Sow Love.

Where there is Injury, Pardon.

Where there is Doubt, Faith.

Where there is Despair, Hope.

Where there is Darkness, Light.

And where there is Sadness, Joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be Consoled, as to Console.

To be Understood, as to Understand.

To be Loved, as to Love.

For it is in Giving that we Receive.

It is in Pardoning that we are Pardoned.

And it is in Dying that we are Born to Eternal Life.

This grave is in honor of all the babies lost to abortion -

Castillo de San Marcos burned so many times that they finally built it of stone. It never fell to enemy after that. The stone is a soft limestone made up mostly of shells. It would seem an inferior material but was discovered to absorb the cannonballs rather than having them shatter a harder stone.

It even has a draw bridge!

We got to watch both a musket demonstration (a child watching thought he was Santa Claus!)…

…

…and a cannon firing. Notice them covering their ears – it was LOUD!

Many walls were build out of shells – with no antibiotics, any intruders would get many scratches trying to climb the wall. Shellfish carried many germs and the likelyhood of the scratches getting infected were very high. Ouch!

The city was burned completely in 1702 after a siege of the fort by the English. After 52 days they finally gave up but not without destroying every building in the town. The fort never fell. There have been other fires, but none so devastating. The visitors’ center was a small museum and we learned so much of the town’s history there. They also had a gift shop (of course) so Joni and I tried on hats Smile This one happened to match BOTH of our outfits!

Many stops on our tour, usually require payment to get in to see the attraction, so we had to pick and choose carefully. We did not choose to see inside this jail but there was lots of information and attractions outside for our enjoyment and edification.

Many “prisoners” around waiting to have their pictures taken.

Henry Flagler (one of the founders of Standard Oil) was most instrumental in building many of the town’s historic sites. He and his wife liked to vacation here but thought it charming but boring, so he built a resort hotel. Now housing Flagler College (re-developed by his nephew to create a low-expense, quality school, which it still is), the resort was only open during the “season” – approximately January-April, and cost each guest around $4,000. You must pay for the entire season even if you only stay for part of it! That is around $100,000 today. It was so successful that another entrepreneur built another hotel next door. That hotel failed within a year and Henry bought it for $325,000, lock, stock, and barrel! He also built a less expensive resort for the not so wealthy (what is that definition?) next to Ponce de Leon Hotel. He realized early on that his guests would need transportation to get to his resorts so he bought, developed, and improved Florida’s railways. The town jail was too close to his fancy resort so he purchased it from the town and built them a new one further away. The new jail was in an upscale residential area, so he built accordingly. Many people actually thought it was a hotel and stopped and asked for a room Smile .

We did pay to go through the Old General Store. This building was a drug store originally, but they have turned it into a museum of a facsimile of a general store of the era.

Canned goods

Cream separator – this brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the one on my grandparents back porch.

In the back of the store was their warehouse with bicycles, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and other paraphernalia. One of the early washing machines had attachments to run a meat/bone grinder, butter churn, or ice cream maker. Kinda reminds you of – “and wait!…there’s more!” Did you know that you didn’t need a drivers license for an automobile. but you did for a bicycle? Also, it was illegal for children to ride bicycles! Then again – how would a child even get on one of these?

Vacuum cleaner – it only weighs 40 pounds!

Hotel Ponce de Leon was full of cutting edge technology. It was on of the first buildings in the country to have electricity (installed by Edison no less!) and filtered water! The water in Florida smells like sulfur and Flagler realized that his guests would not like it. He built a beautiful fountain in the courtyard with an elaborate system to filter the water. The fountain also served as a sun dial.

The hotel was built in only 18 months. Take a look at some of the detail that went into this building (designed by architects in their 20’s!)

The dome in the reception hall.

Tiffany windows in the dining hall. These were some of his very first designs and the only ones still in use for their intended purpose! The windows are protected by bullet proof glass. I wonder why?

The mosaic tile floor in the reception hall mirrors the ceiling pattern in the Ladies Lounge. Students, tired of studying often look for irregularities in the designs – supposedly some are intended, some not.

The ceiling is “Tiffany Blue” before Tiffany perfected the color.

The fireplace in the Ladies Lounge (where the ladies went while their husbands checked in and paid the bill). Edison also installed an electric clock above the fireplace here. It only tells the correct time twice a day now as it cannot be repaired without cutting through the marble. Edison “signed” the clock with his trick of substituting “IIII” for the Roman Numeral IV.

I could go on and on about this beautiful building, but I will leave you with this:

If your kids ever complain about strict rules for dating – a lady “courting” sat in this chair with their young man and a chaperone!

Henry Flagler’s family was not immune to sorrow. He and his first wife had three children – one who died early and then his wife died of Tuberculosis. His remaining daughter lost a baby shortly after birth and then she herself died soon after. Flagler built a church in her memory. He is buried there with his first wife, daughter and grandbaby.

Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church

Inside is just as beautiful.

Other sites around St. Augustine:

Beautiful flowers:

Although there are many more magnolias in this area than I’ve ever seen in one place before, Magnolia Street is no longer lined with them, but instead Live Oaks draped in Spanish Moss. The leaves look nothing like an oak to me, but they do reproduce with acorns. It is a “live” oak because it stays green year round – losing its leaves only when the spring growth is ready to replace them.