St. Augustine

We'd heard about St. Augustine so we packed up for a night and made the drive.

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the contiguous United States.  The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years.  

Back to our volksmarching days, we parked the truck, picked up a map, and off we went.  First area to explore was this.

Here on September 8, 1565, 55 years before the pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock, Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded the town of St. Augustine and Nombre De Dios Mission.  On the same date, Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales held high the cross and celebrated the first parish Mass.  After Mass, the Spanish settlers and the native Tumucuans celebrated a meal of thanksgiving together.

We walked around the historic area and saw some interesting things.

He seemed almost tame - must be used to visitors

On we went.  The historic part of town is charming with lots of history.

The oldest Spanish fortification in the United States, this stands as a remnant of the European colonization of America.  The Castillo de San Marcos dates back to 1672 is an example of military architecture built in the defense of the Spanish crown.  It was declared a national monument in 1924.

This was an interesting furnace.

We walked on to find a place for lunch.  There were a lot of restaurants along the way and we chose this.

Casa Reina - our table was under an umbrella on the right

The food was delicious but even better was the view.

The bridge is a draw bridge and we watched several times as the bridge was raised so sail boats could pass underneath.

As we walked further, I was fascinated by the historical houses along the way.  Here is an example.

And another.

What a beautiful spot for the National Guard.

Originally, this was the site of the Alcazar Hotel.  The hotel was built by Henry Flagler in 1889.  It was one of Flagler's many contributions to St. Augustine developing the nation's oldest city into a tourist destination during the turn of the century.  The hotel contained the world's largest indoor swimming pool, the first in the state of Florida.  The Alcazar remained open to guests until 1931 and today is the home of the Lightner Museum, shops, and cafes.

Alcazar Hotel/Lightner Museum

Across the street is Flagler College.

In 1882-1883 Henry Flagler, the founder of Standard Oil and the man who would later be known as the father of South Florida, decided to spend the winter months in St. Augustine.  In 1879, his wife, Mary, had fallen gravely ill and the doctors advised Henry to take her to Florida saying that the sea, air, and the weather would help.  Mary died in 1881 but Flagler had by then fallen in love with the wild and unruly state.

Two years later, Flagler was once more acting like the titan of industry that he was.  He arrived in St. Augustine and was blown away not only on account of its lush greenery and pristine beaches, but on its untouched and historic architecture.  He felt like he was going back in time and traveling back 100 years.  St. Augustine was an artistic enclave of different cultures and truly historical.  He saw the potential for a winter resort for wealthy northerners and started planning.  He started to build the blueprints for the Florida East Coast Railway and had huge plans for the state and the money to back it.  While he was planning, he sent out an army of scouts to buy up real estate at pennies on the dollar.

He met up with a local named Franklin Smith, who was well-versed in concrete constructions and was hired to start construction on Flagler's base of command and flagship hotel.  Flagler's personal friend, Thomas Edison, oversaw the installation and the hotel was lauded as the first in the world to be wired for electricity and constructed with the technology in mind.

Thomas Edison later said "It was sort of funny, because for a month after it opened up the hotel didn't have any electricity.  Not because the installation was faulty, but because local staff and even people staying in the hotel were too afraid to turn the switches on and off by themselves.  Flagler had to hire men from Edison's company to actually turn the power on and off...In each occupied individual room."

The Ponce de Leon Hotel was opened in 1888.  During World War II, the hotel was taken over by the federal government and used as a Coast Guard Training Center.  St. Augustine is considered to be the birthplace of the Coast Guard Reserve.  Hey, we just walked by the Coast Guard!

The hotel was permanently closed in 1967 and a year later reopened as the centerpiece of the newly established Flagler College.

There were many Bed & Breakfasts along the route.  

Of course I was attracted to the cemetery.

And with that, we were back to the starting point.  What a great day!