Experience the History of St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine, Florida, was founded in 1565 by the Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez de Aviles. It was named for the saint on whose day the settlement was founded. Although there had been other settlements and forts founded in Florida prior to this date, St. Augustine is the oldest to have been continuously occupied up to the present day.

In 1702 the entire city was wiped out under English raids, but it was immediately rebuilt, and the oldest structures outside of the fort Castillo de San Marcos (Castle of St. Marcos) date back to the 18th century.

When you travel to St. Augustine you will see this fact well displayed, and you will be treated to a host of many "oldest" sites. The first is the Oldest House, also known as the Gonzales Alvarez House, built in 1723. There is the Oldest Store Museum, which is built to resemble a turn of the century general store. There is the Oldest Authentic Drugstore, which contains an actual working pharmacy. You can also see the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the United States, built sometime before 1788.

The heart of historic St. Augustine is St. George St. Allowing only pedestrian traffic, it is filled with old shops and storefronts, and features architecture dating back centuries. In the center of the historic district you will also find the Fountain of Youth that purports to be the legendary fount of everlasting life that the explorer Ponce de Leon sought so fervently.

Other hallmarks of the Spanish era of St. Augustine include the Government House Museum, overlooking the Plaza de la Constitution, the Spanish Military Hospital and the Ximenez-Fatio House. All of these sites recall the glory days of Spanish Florida, when St. Augustine served as its capital and allow visitors a glimpse into the life of those days.

Riviera of the Americas

As time passed, so did Florida and St. Augustine. By the end of the 18th century Florida had passed from Spanish control to British. Not long afterwards Florida would change hands again, this time becoming part of the young nation, the United States of America.

As Florida grew and changed, St. Augustine ceased to hold the significance it once had. It would not attain glory again until the end of the 19th century with the coming of Henry Flagler. Flagler honeymooned in St. Augustine in 1883 and was so overcome by the city that he returned to build his own hotel there.

His hotel was the Ponce de Leon Hotel, now Flagler College. When it was built the hotel was hailed as "the world's finest hotel." Built to celebrate the history of St. Augustine, it has a Spanish flair combined with the style of the late 19th century, making it a unique piece of architecture.

Flagler College resides on King St. in St. Augustine, just a short walk away from St. George St. and the central heart of St. Augustine. The area around Flagler College reflects a later day in St. Augustine, when thanks to the work of Henry Flagler it became one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world: "the Riviera of the Americas."

Besides the Ponce de Leon Hotel Flagler also built the Alcazar Hotel. As the name would suggest, this hotel was built in a mixture of Spanish and Moorish styles, calling back the Golden Age of Spain under Muslim rule. Today it serves as the Lightner Museum, a museum dedicated to the Gilded Age of the United States, the same time period in which St. Augustine enjoyed its greatest success.

The Castillo de San Marcos

St. Augustine's most permanent fixture throughout its over 400 years of history has been the Castillo de San Marcos. In 1565 the original fort was built of wood, as well as a number of successor forts. It was not until 1672 that a more permanent, sturdier stone structure was built.

The stone used to build the Castillo de San Marcos is called coquina, a tough shell limestone. Soft and malleable when wet it was easy to build with, but when it hardened it became impenetrable, especially when it had been used to build a 12 foot thick wall. In 1740 after an unsuccessful attack on the Castillo British General James Oglethorpe named it the "sponge fort," since his cannon had been completely unable to penetrate it.

The fort is built with an unusual design, a solid square center with with expanded pointed corners. With the ocean on one side and a moat surrounding the remaining three it was very difficult to access. There is a watchtower on the northeastern bastion.

So successful was the design and build of the fort, in fact, that it has never once been taken in battle, whether under the Spanish, the British or the Americans. For centuries the fort was the most important part of St. Augustine, as it was its primary protection. St. Augustine was built in its shadow.

Today the Castillo de San Marcos is one of the most popular attractions in St. Augustine, and is well worth the visit. Guided tours are extremely interesting and informational, teaching you the history of St. Augustine through the history of the fort. You can also learn much about military life through the centuries, as well as military arms and tactics and the history of the battles that took place in St. Augustine.

St. Augustine is most historical city of the United States, having seen more history than any other single settlement in the entire nation. A trip to St. Augustine is a trip into the past, watching this country develop through the eyes of a single place, the oldest permanent settlement in the United States of America.