My earliest memories of St. Augustine are when I was but nine years old, 1964. Our parents took us to the fort, Castillo de San Marcos. I was so moved by the experience, my mother bought me a small two-inch Spanish canon which I still have in my possession.
Historic St. Augustine is one of those neat and well-loved Florida cities. The area may have been first explored by Ponce de Leon in 1513. There is a statue of Ponce in the main square.
Some people believe that Ponce was the first European to touch North America, even though he thought he had discovered an island. It is a fact that Ponce called the area “Florida” due to the lush vegetation and the time was around Easter. There is a plaque near the main square about Florida.
The fort is an obvious tourist attraction to the city. What now stands was built in 1695 under the Spanish.
They used the natural building material, “coquina,” meaning “small shells” which forms a hard limestone. It is coquina that allows one to drive on the beaches in that region. I remember driving my car on St. Augustine beach back in 1978 with my Volkswagen 411 model, now dutifully extinct.
It was during my 1978 expedition that I met a middle-school history teacher who dressed the part of an earlier bygone era.
The fort was eventually taken over by the British, back to the Spanish, given to the USA and taken by the Confederacy. Today it is operated by the National Park Service. There are a number of iron and bronze canons at the fort.
I thought it was unique that the founders used the tides to flush out the bathroom area, “La Necessary.”
In the 19th century, the famous chief Osceola was at the fort. So were over 500 Apache Indians even though there was room for 130 of them.
Many of the Apaches did die in captivity. Their famous leader, Geronimo, was held at Ft. Pickens in Pensacola and never did make it to what was Fort Marion, now the Castillo.
Part of the City walls can still be seen. It was not necessarily to keep people out, more like keeping wildlife at bay.
There have been a number of attacks against the city and the fort. One of the more famous raiders was Sir Francis Drake back in 1586. Old town is quite happy to fly the various flags that once stood in St. Augustine.
St. Augustine was where Frederick Douglas once spoke.
The city was also to have Martin Luther King protesting in 1964 at the Monson Motor Lodge (now the Hilton) not allowing African Americans to be served at the hotel.
MLK and fellow protesters were, indeed, arrested. The pool area became a central focal point when the motel’s owner poured acid in the pool where people were swimming.
Just north of historic downtown is a 208-foot “Great Cross.” It was built in 1966 and was once the largest cross in the world. It symbolized the first cross in North America in 1565 when Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded St. Augustine.
The city was once Florida’s capital before being moved to Tallahassee. There is a large round stone ball north of the wall signifying the road that went all the way to San Diego, CA.
We have been to St. Augustine in all the seasons. One of our favorites seasons is around Halloween.
It is around Christmas that St. Augustine is most adored for as the “Nights of Lights.” Tens of thousands of lights are strung across the city.
In early December, there is the Christmas boat parade. Once we even saw a lighted jeep parade.
We wonder if this boat made it into the parade this year?
Christmas in St. Augustine gets better and better with every year. The prices, though, for the trams go higher and higher too. If you can walk, we recommend skipping these expensive trams—even though they look fun. You can see everything on foot anyhow.
There are plenty of options in staying in St. Augustine. If you go across the Bridge of Lions (yes, there are sculptured Lions in front) the prices do get cheaper.
Going east from the Lions Bridge will lead to a sizable State park and a number of hotels on the beach. There is even a pier by Embassy Suites.
There are a good number of Airbnbs that people enjoy staying at. If you book early, you can acquire your preferred location.
Our number one eating place in is the Columbia Restaurant in historic downtown. Serving many Cuban dishes, it is absolutely delicious. Kathie enjoyed the “Stuffed Mushrooms.”
I like the peppers with Chorizo if they have it.
I also like the Black Bean soup with onions; the Cuban bread and the Gambas “Aal Ajillo” dish made with shrimp. Also, one of the very best slices of Key Lime pie I ever had was at the Columbia Restaurant in St. Augustine.
We always sit at the bar on the second level. We enjoy seeing Michelle who has been there for over 25 years.
On a lighter note, we have enjoyed AIA near the main Square. Sometimes the food is a hit or miss type of proposition, but we love the ambiance.
Even though not recognized as a great restaurant, “Harry’s” is always popular with its Cajun cuisine. We enjoy the upstairs tables over-looking the river.
St. Augustine is a popular place to get married. Who may come across a wedding or two.
The main walking street in historic St. Augustine is St. Georges. It was in 1978 that I saw an archeological dig on one corner.
It is not uncommon to come across an old canon or two.
It was on St. Georges Street that I came across these three women dressed in Colonial clothes in 1978. I learned that before the 18th century taking a bath was a rare event, maybe monthly if a rain shower did not get you. Dark clothes were the preferred motif—and French perfume.
In 2014, we discovered “Pizza Time” on St. Georges. It was ranked as the #2 Pizza in the USA. There is usually always a line out the door. A slice of pizza will cost you about $6 dollars, cash. There is an ATM machine close to the register. No credit cards at this popular place.
Not far is Flagler College. The main campus was once Henry Morrison Flagler’s Hotel Ponce de Leon. Developed in 1887, the place had 450 rooms.
He loved St. Augustine and had not one, but three hotels for his northern guests. To help facilitate the visit, Henry funded through his Standard Oil monies and built what would be called the East Coast Railway–which eventually went all the way down to Key West. In essence, St. Augustine became”Flagler’s American Riviera.
We highly recommend a tour through what was the hotel, now part of Flagler College.
You may come across one of my favorite Flagler paintings by Frederick Arthur Bridgeman, “Morning on the Bosphorus.”
Inside the museum, is also one of the largest collections of stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Both Louis and Henry were good friends.
On the tour, you may come across some students in the cafeteria enjoying “free time.”
Across the street was Hotel Alcazar which is now an administrative center and the famous Lightner Museum which houses over 50,000 antiques. Otto Lightner made his fortune through publishing the “Hobbies Magazine.” He purchased his museum in 1948 and later donated it to the city.
My favorite antique in the museum is the figurine of the monkey.
There is a café in the Lightner Museum which sits on the site of the largest freshwater pool ever built in the 19th century. It was 120 feet long and 50 feet wide with depths of 3 to 12 feet. It must have taken plenty of concrete to fill in that pool.
Down the road is the St. Augustine Distillery located in an old ice plant. They operate one of the best tours for a distillery. There is also a well-liked restaurant to one side. An ex-student of mine is one of twenty St. Augustine Distillery owners.
We always enjoy walking the cobble stone streets of the historic district. On the southern end you may come across the oldest home in America. Unlike Key West, you are more apt to see cats than chickens.
There seems to be a number of places that have “The Oldest” moniker to it. The “Oldest School House” quickly comes to mind.
We have NOT done all the “touristy” places like Ripply’s Believe it or Not; seeing the Fountain of Youth; or even the Alligator Farm on AIA.
We can’t say that playing on the historic put-put course has been one of our activities. It is now owned by Ripply’s and this 1949 course is only open on certain days of the week.
We have been on top of the St. Augustine Lighthouse though. The tower that now stands is 165 feet high built in 1874. The small fee helps pay for its preservation.
We enjoyed the boat ride that goes by this lighthouse. There are tours that leave from the main docks.
At one time there was a replica of a Spanish galleon. Having a boat tour does give a different perspective of the Castillo.
The large bridge north of town is the Francis and Mary Usina Bridge. We always say “we want to walk over that bridge someday.” We do go over by car and see the Vilano Beach area. There was once a large casino in 1920’s, now gone. We have walked out to Vilano Point and have seen the inlet.
About 12 miles south of St. Augustine is Fort Matanzas and inlet. It was in this location that over 140 French soldiers were executed by the Spanish in the 16thcentury. These French men refused to accept Catholicism. The area was called “Matanzas” – as it meant “slaughter” in Spanish.
We hope you enjoyed our expose of this unique area of Florida.
