Monday 11 March 2019
The nation’s oldest city, St Augustine, is home to five
centuries of history, fascinating attractions, beautiful beaches and superb
architecture. We decided to get a seat aboard the Old Town Trolley to see the
best of this city!
While we waited for the transport vehicle, we interacted
with the local wildlife! Juan picked us up at Compass RV resort and took us to
the main hub for the Old Town Trolley. They have provided St Augustine
sightseeing tours for more than 30 years. Our trolley driver was “Sailor Girl”
because she lives on a sailboat in St Augustine harbor, she treated us to some
real “transportainment”, a delightful combination of transportation and
entertainment.
The main hub is home to Gator Bob’s Trading Post, the
Old Jail and St Augustine History Museum. We toured the museum while we waited
for the next trolley to arrive. In the museum we found the original Tin Can
Tourists. Now that is camping!
The Old Jail housed prisoners for over 60 years. It
was built by railroad magnate, Henry Flagler to resemble a fine hotel. The
massive Queen Anne style stucco on brick building is on the National Register
of Historic Places, It is one of the very few surviving 19th century
incarceration facilities in the state and is the oldest government building in
St John’s County.
A deputy guides you through your tour of the
sheriff’s quarters, where he and his family lived adjacent to 72 prisoners.
There were inmates everywhere outside the facility on work details. There is an
actual moveable jail, from the 1890’s on display out front.
We decided to ride the entire route and learn all
that we could about the city and then get off and explore. Charlie & I were
the only 2 in our group, who have never been here. Betty & Walter and Sandy
& Paul have toured St Augustine a few times before. The Castillo de San
Marcos is a 17th-century Spanish stone fortress with views of the St. Augustine
Inlet. This massive fortress was built to protect the city from foreign
invasions during Spanish rule and is the oldest remaining European Fort in the
USA. It is an amazing structure made of coquina stone.
The churches in St Augustine are where you can view
some of the most exquisite architecture in St Augustine. The most magnificent
church we visited was the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church. Visually
exquisite, the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church was built by Henry Flagler
in 1889. It is one of his most significant projects, because it was constructed
as a memorial to Flagler’s only daughter, Jenny.
The mausoleum adjacent to the church is where
Flagler, his daughter, granddaughter and first wife are buried. At first sight,
many are awed by the church’s grand Venetian Renaissance-style architecture. Inside
and out, every detail was attended to and as is evident, money was no object at
the time of its design. Flagler’s masterpiece features hand-carved Santo Domino
mahogany, detailed terra cotta frieze work by Italian artists and a massive
copper dome.
The Flagler College is a massive display of the
architectural heritage of the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, listed as a National
Historic Landmark. Built by railroad magnate, Henry M. Flagler in 1888, the
Ponce is considered one of the finest examples of Spanish Renaissance
architecture and was one of the most exclusive resorts of its day. You can
marvel at the hotel's Spanish Renaissance architecture and of the techniques
and innovations used to construct Henry Flagler's vision.
Lightner Museum is housed in the former Alcazar Hotel
built in 1888 by Henry Morrison Flagler. The hotel was at the peak of its
popularity during the 1890’s. More than 25,000 guests visited the Alcazar
during those early winter seasons and countless more used the recreational
facilities. For the pleasure of the guests, there was the world’s largest
indoor swimming pool at the time, the grand ballroom, sulfur baths, a steam
room, massage parlor, a gymnasium, a bowling alley, archery ranges, tennis courts
and a bicycle academy.
You had to have a license to ride a bike, but not drive
a car! In 1902, a bridge was built between Cordova and the nearby Alcazar
(which is now the Lightner Museum) and the historic hotel changed its name to
Alcazar Annex. One year later, the two became one hotel, advertised as the
“enlarged and redecorated” Alcazar. Henry Flagler abandoned the property when
the stock market fell. It officially closed in 1932, and in 1945 the bridge was
torn down.
The third hotel at this intersection is the Casa
Monica. In May 1887, Henry Flagler - railroad pioneer, hotel magnate and
co-founder of Standard Oil - sold a parcel of land in St Augustine, Florida to
Bostonian amateur architect, Franklin W. Smith. On New Year’s Day 1888, Smith
opened the historic Casa Monica Hotel.
Four months later, Henry Flagler
purchased Casa Monica and "all fixtures, furnishings, silver, hardware,
linen, bedding, parlor, hall, dining room, and kitchen furnishings and all
other chattels," for $325,000 and changed the name of the hotel to
Cordova. The hotel flourished under Flagler’s management. In February of 1962,
St Johns County Commission purchased the Cordova for $250,000 to use it as a
county courthouse. On May 29, 1968 the Courthouse opened and stayed active
until the late 1970s. Then in the mid-1990s, Richard C. Kessler of the Kessler
Enterprise, Inc. of Orlando purchased the St Johns County Courthouse with intent
to return the building to a luxurious hotel in Florida. The historic Casa
Monica Hotel opened its doors on December 10, 1999; two years later the king
and queen of Spain visited, confirming that the property had graduated into the
realm of the country’s best boutique hotels.
St Augustine Distillery is housed in the Historic
FP&L Ice Plant. Built as part of St. Augustine’s first power and ice complex
in 1907. The building was restored and brought back into service. The Ice Plant
is a contributing building to the Lincolnville Neighborhood on the National
Register of Historic Places and was the first of its kind to make commercial
block ice in Florida over 100 years ago. Today, it is a big part of making Florida’s
first bourbon and other fine craft spirits.
If you prefer wine, check out the San Sebastian
Winery. It is just around the corner from the distillery. San Sebastian Winery,
founded in 1996 in one of Henry Flagler’s old East Coast Railway buildings. San
Sebastian ranks as one of Florida's premium wineries, and remains a pioneer in
the development of premium, sparkling and dessert wines from Muscadine grapes.
At the turnaround of the trolley, we came upon the Florida
Department of Military Affairs, headquartered at St. Francis Barracks. It is
the HQ of the Florida Army National Guard and Florida Air National Guard. Both
branches are administered by the state Adjutant General, an appointee of the
Governor of Florida, and fall under the command of the Governor. The barracks
were constructed between 1724 and 1755 by friars of the Order of St. Francis,
to replace a series of wooden buildings which had been destroyed by the ravages
of the tropical climate in La Florida and by fire.
The barracks were turned
into a military structure by the British in 1763, after Florida became a
British possession at the conclusion of the French and Indian War. At that
time, the Franciscan friars vacated St Augustine, along with a majority of the
other Spanish residents. St Francis Barracks came under control of the United
States Army when the United States gained possession of Florida in 1821. The
Barracks would remain an active U.S. Army installation until it was deactivated
in 1900.
We disembarked at Ripley’s Believe it or Not! which was
originally the Warden’s Winter Home. The Warden Winter Home was built in 1887
for William G Warden of Philadelphia. A partner with Henry Flagler and John D.
Rockefeller in the Standard Oil Company, Warden was also the President of the
St Augustine Gas and Electric Light Company and Financial Director of the St
Augustine Improvement Company.
One of the most imposing private residences in
the city, it was a center of winter social activity. Its Moorish Revival
architecture and elaborate interior reflect the exuberance of the Gilded Age
and St Augustine's role as a winter resort. It remained in the Warden family
through the 1930s. In 1941 it was purchased by Norton Baskin and remodeled as
the Castle Warden Hotel. Baskin and his wife, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, had an
apartment on the top floor. Many writers and other distinguished visitors came
here during its decade as a hotel. Locally known as Warden Castle, it has
served as Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum since 1950.
The Visitor Information Center is a great source for
info on things to do, restaurants, parking, local ordinances, handicap
information, and more. But, the exhibits are unique and ever changing. There
are other interesting landmarks at the Visitor Information Center. The most
unusual is a fountain on the side of the building that was given as a gift to
St Augustine from Aviles, Spain. The fountain is a replica of a fountain in
Aviles known as the Fuentos de los Canos de San Francisco and features 6 faces
with water pouring from their mouths.
Another unique point of interest at the Visitors
Center is the Old Spanish Trail Zero Milestone marker. The Old Spanish trail
ran from St Augustine, Florida to San Diego, California. It was erected in 1928
at the side of the Visitor Center facing South Castillo Drive. The “zero”
milestone of the Old Spanish Trail is a hard-to-miss, spherical monument made
of coquina shells nestled in the underbrush.
The Old Spanish Trail was an early
20th century auto highway project intended to provide a continuous highway
route from California to Florida, linking together the southwestern and
southern states. Planning and construction of the OST highway system began in
1915 and the highway was officially opened for travel in 1929. The highway’s
name, the Old Spanish Trail, also pays homage to the Spanish heritage and
missions of the southwest and the south. The Old Spanish Trail highway follows
what eventually became known as US Highway 80 in the southwest and US Highway
90 in the south.
We walked from the visitors center to the city center
for some more history and shopping. We walked through the City Gates, just like
they did five centuries ago. We took a quick stroll the whole length of St
George Street. We wanted to get to Cathederal Street and get some pastries and
coffee from the Kookaburra. The Sailor Girl told us about it and Charlie had to
get some! It is an Australian-inspired cafe serving coffee, espresso drinks,
scones and savory meat pies. Charlie & Betty had scones, that they shared
with Walter and I. Paul and Sandy shared a meat pie.
The Cathedral of St Augustine is the oldest Catholic
Church in the city, and the seat of the Bishop of the Diocese of St Augustine.
The architecture of the Cathedral is inspired by the city's Spanish roots. The
cathedral walls are adorned with exquisite murals that depict scenes from the
history of the Catholic Church in the development of the New World. There are
also stained glass windows showing scenes from the life of Saint Augustine of
Hippo, for whom the city was named.
We then took a leisurely stroll back down St George
Street, the historic pedestrian mall lined with shops, restaurants and some
important sites like the Oldest School House. While the ladies went in and out
of the shops, the men patiently waited … and Walter ate!
The flowers that were in bloom, were gorgeous!
We stopped at a local eatery, Mi Casa Café, with beers,
food and music. The music was loud, the beers were cold and the food was good!
It was a great place to stop and relax!
The Shrine of our Lady of La Leche at Mission Nombre de Dios is the result of five ships sailing into a small cove on the coastline of what was known to the Spanish as La Florida. Under the command of General Pedro Menendez de Aviles, they come to the New World from Spain. Sent by King Philip II, they arrive in hopes of establishing a colony securing the land for Spain, and most importantly, to convert the native American Indians to Christianity. On September 8, the feast day of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Spanish sailors, soldiers, tradesmen and priests came ashore. They placed a wooden cross on the sand, thus proclaiming this land in the name of God (Nombre de Dios) Father Lopez celebrated Mass at a rustic altar made of wood. The sky served as the roof for what was the first parish Mass in what is now the United States. In was on this sacred ground that the Spanish settlers would begin devotion to Our Lady of La Leche, Nuestra Señora de La Leche y Buen Parto, Mary nursing the infant Jesus. In the early 1600s, the Spanish settlers of St. Augustine established the first Shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the United States.
What better
way to end the day than a drink from the eternal spring? The Fountain of Youth
Archaeological Park is on the actual site where the Spanish Explorers first
came ashore in the United States. The park offers a myriad of educational
experiences including learning about the life of Ponce de Leon. There’s also a
Navigator’s Planetarium, a reconstructed Timucuan Native American village and
much more to explore.
We did get to see more wildlife! A peacock on the
roof!
It is sad that so much of this old city has been commercialized ... but it was a great first full day in St Augustine!
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