HISTORIC
ST. AUGUSTINE
DON JUAN PONCE DE LEON
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FOUNDING OF ST. AUGUSTINE
Spanish explorer and treasure hunter, Don Juan Ponce de Leon, had heard Indians tell
of Bimini, a fabulous island in the North. Historians do not unanimously honor at full
value the romantic story that Ponce was seeking to find the fountain of youth. Yet it
was not incredible to men of that day - when the very existence of a New World was
hardly believable to those who had not seen it with their own eyes - that those who
had touched these shores should believe in greater magic in this strange realm. And
certainly there is no legend more appropriate to the beginning of America than that
this new land should offer a vision of eternal youth.
In 1513 Ponce de Leon, at his own expense, equipped an expedition to the North.
With his able navigator, Anton Alaminos, Ponce sailed and charted the ocean’s main
artery, the Gulf Stream, shaping the destiny of oceanic transport for all time to come.
The mainland of the North American continent was first sighted by Ponce de Leon on
Easter, March 27, 1513. He claimed the land for Spain and named it La Florida,
meaning "Land of Flowers." Between 1513 and 1563 the government of Spain
launched six expeditions to settle Florida, but all failed.
The French succeeded in establishing a fort and colony on the St. Johns River in 1564
and in doing so, threatened Spain's treasure fleets which sailed along Florida's
shoreline returning to Spain. As a result of this incursion into Florida, King Phillip II
named Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Spain's most experienced admiral, as governor
of Florida, instructing him to explore and to colonize the territory. Menendez was also
instructed to drive out any pirates or settlers from other nations, should they be found
there.
On June 20, 1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles sailed from Spain for Florida with 19
ships and 1,000 people. The expedition at one time had swelled to more than 1,500
people but after storms at sea, the expedition diminished in size to five ships and 500
soldiers, 200 sailors and 100 noncombatants. This was primarily a military venture.
When Menendez arrived off the coast of Florida, it was August 28, 1565, the Feast Day
of St. Augustine. Eleven days later, he and his soldiers and settlers came ashore at
the site of the Timucuan Indian village of Seloy with banners flying and trumpets
sounding. He hastily fortified the fledgling village and named it St. Augustine.
Utilizing brilliant military maneuvers, Menendez destroyed the French garrison on the
St. Johns River and, with the help of a hurricane, also defeated the French fleet. With
the coast of Florida firmly in Spanish hands, he then set to work building the town,
establishing missions for the Church, and exploring the land.
Thus, St. Augustine was founded forty-two years before the English colony at
Jamestown, Virginia, and fifty-five years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock
in Massachusetts - making it the oldest permanent European settlement on the North
American continent.
Maintaining St. Augustine became a mighty task over the next two
hundred years. In 1586, English corsair Sir Francis Drake attacked and
burned the town. Then in 1668, the pirate Captain John Davis
plundered the town, killing sixty inhabitants. Without the courage,
perseverance and faith of its early settlers it is doubtful that St.
Augustine would have survived.
Finally, after the British established colonies in Georgia and the Carolinas, Spain
authorized the building of a stone fort to protect St. Augustine as assaults from the
north became more frequent. The Castillo de San Marcos took twenty-three years to
build but, once in place, stood as the town's stalwart defender. Major attacks were
made against her in 1702 by Governor James Moore of South Carolina and in 1740 by
General James Oglethorpe of Georgia. Neither siege was successful and to this day,
the fort has never fallen to enemy attack.
It was not until 1763 that Spain ceded Florida to England in order to regain the capital
of Cuba, ushering in twenty years of British rule in Florida. This period coincided with
the American Revolution, during which Florida remained loyal to the Crown.
In 1783, under the Treaty of Paris, Florida was returned to Spanish rule for a period of
thirty-seven years. The Spanish departed for the last time when Spain sold Florida to
the United States of America. At a colorful military ceremony on July 10, 1821, US
troops took possession of the territory and Spain relinquished control of Florida
forever.
Soon after the American occupation, St. Augustine suffered a series of setbacks. In
1821, a yellow fever epidemic brought death to many newcomers. Also, uprisings by
the Seminole Indians culminated in the Seminole War of 1836, which called a halt to
development of St. Augustine's economy.
In 1845, Florida became the twenty-seventh state admitted to the Union. The Castillo
de San Marcos was renamed Fort Marion in honor of a Revolutionary War hero, and
the capital of East Florida was moved from St. Augustine to become part of the state
capital in the new town of Tallahassee.
The town had finally begun to prosper when the American Civil War broke out in 1861.
Although Florida had seceded with the rest of the Confederacy, St. Augustine was
occupied by Union troops throughout most of the conflict. When the war ended in
1865, the town was three centuries old.
THE HENRY FLAGLER ERA
The war's end brought speculators and land developers to Florida along with the
beginnings of the visitor industry.
The arrival of Henry Flagler in 1885 marked the beginning of a golden era for St.
Augustine that extended through 1914. Enticed by the city's temperate climate and
unique ambiance, Flagler saw great potential for St. Augustine as a winter resort and
playground for rich Northerners.
Flagler, a co-founder of the Standard Oil
Company with John D. Rockefeller,
immediately put his vast fortune to work
building his dream. He constructed two lavish
hotels, the beautiful Alcazar, and his
masterpiece-the Ponce de Leon.
These hotels allowed St. Augustine to
accommodate the wealthiest of travelers with
luxurious lodgings and a fine array of leisure
activities. His Florida East Coast Railway
ensured a transportation link between New
York and St. Augustine, and he built a two-story depot to properly receive arriving
guests. Flagler was also responsible for building the town's hospital, city hall, and
several churches.
Flagler expanded his dream south toward Palm Beach when he moved there in the
early 1900's, but had given St. Augustine an era of prestige and prosperity - the
effects of which are still evident today.
Flagler's vision would forever change the face of St. Augustine, but natural disaster
also altered the town's appearance. In 1887 and 1914, fires wiped out many historic
buildings between the plaza and the north city gates.
In 1959, the state began an ongoing preservation effort, meticulously restoring many
colonial structures to their original appearance, and historic St. Augustine has become
a center of colonial Spanish culture and an important destination for travelers from all
parts of the world.
1.
What Spaniard first discovered and explored Florida? When?
2.
Who founded St. Augustine? When?
3.
Why did Spain authorize the building of The Castillo de San Marcos?
4.
Why was it important for the Spanish to colonize Florida?
5.
Why was Henry Flagler so important to the development of St. Augustine?
6.
Mr. Flagler built several hotels in St. Augustine. What else did he build?
CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS (THE FORT)
This is St. Augustine's most impressive historical landmark and it tells a lot about the
past. From the time of its founding, St. Augustine always had a fort to defend it
against attack.
The first forts were of wood, which soon decayed and were periodically rebuilt. Finally,
as advancing English colonies to the north threatened to engulf Florida and St.
Augustine, officials in Spain authorized the building of a great coquina stone fortress
here. Its construction was begun in 1672, a century before the Revolutionary War. It
was essentially completed in 1695 although some of the outer work was added during
later periods. Free artisans, impressed Indian labor, convicts, and slaves were used in
its construction.
The stone used in this fort, and later in many of St. Augustine's other buildings is called
coquina, which is made up of tiny shells and sand, fused together over thousands of
years. Coquina was quarried on Anastasia Island across the Matanzas Bay, cut into
blocks, hauled to the pier at Quarry Creek by oxen, ferried across the bay on barges,
and then laboriously lifted into place by hand operated derricks. As a thick wall, the
coquina was able to withstand cannon fire because of its porous (sponge-like) quality.
The cannon balls only became embedded in the walls, and were unable to crack or
shatter them.
After the fort was completed, it successfully withstood two English sieges and was never
captured by an enemy.
7.
What material was used for the construction of the Castillo?
8.
Where did the Indian laborers get this material for the Castillo?
9.
Why was the fort able to withstand cannon attack?
10.
When was construction of the Castillo completed?
THE SPANISH MILITARY HOSPITAL MUSEUM
The Spanish Military Hospital Museum is a reconstruction of a Military Hospital that
stood on this site from 1784-1821 (during the second Spanish Colonial Period).
Students will visit the Surgeon’s Office and view the tools of the trade (a few of which
are still used today).
Since mortality rates were high, a Mourning Room was part of the Hospital. Here the
Priest gave blessings to patients before death occurred.
Patients were housed in the Hospital Ward and the Apothecary is where medicines were
dispensed. Students will tour all of the above as they role play being a patient in the
Spanish Military Hospital in the year 1791.
MISSION OF NOMBRE DE DIOS SHRINE (Our Lady of La Leche)
On this site, September 8, 1565, Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles landed with a band of
settlers to found St. Augustine, so named because his ships first sighted the Florida
coast on St. Augustine's Day, August 28. Father Francisco Lopez, Chaplain of the
Spanish fleet, offered here the First Mass in the nation's first Parish.
Father Lopez and a detail of soldiers had come ashore the evening before. When
Menendez and his principal officers landed, amid the roar of the cannon and the blare of
the trumpets, the priest went out to meet them holding aloft a cross and singing the
hymn "Te Deum Laudamus," the same hymn that is sung in church services today.
Curious Indians watched both proceedings. Thus St. Augustine came into existence and
was launched upon its span of over four centuries.
During the next two hundred years this area was the site of an active
Indian Mission named "Nombre de Dios"-"Name of God.” It was the first
mission in what is now the United States and is still administered by the
Catholic Church. To commemorate the Mission's 400th Anniversary,
which occurred in 1965, the Catholic Church erected a new Votive
Church and a 200 foot high cross to mark the place where Christianity
first took root in this country.
OLD FLORIDA MUSEUM
Students will experience history first hand at the Old Florida Museum. Costumed
Guides will lead your class through an interactive trip through Florida’s History. A take
home project is included in each program. The four featured programs are:
Florida Indian Program - Experience the daily life of the Timucua Indians firsthand.
Students will participate in Native American games, jewelry making, corn grinding,
gardening and will practice using a bow drill. Student take home project - Indian
jewelry.
Spanish Colonial/ Fort Mose Program - Learn about daily life in Spanish Colonial times
and discover the story of Fort Mose, the first free Black Settlement in Colonial America
(which was located just a bit north of St. Augustine). Candle dipping, rope making,
colonial games, tabby making, weaving, and woodworking are hands on activities for
young people. Student take home project - hand dipped candle taper.
Early Florida Pioneer Program - Attend class in a one room school house and experience
a day in the life of a child in the 1800s. Students will participate in corn shelling and
milling, write with a quill pen, draw water from a pitcher pump, play pioneer games, try
their roping skills and garden with a push plow. Student take home project - Quill pen
writing sample on parchment paper.
Archaeological Dig Program - In this new program students will learn about the field of
archaeology. A mock dig to uncover and identify findings on their own will be included
in this great hands on activity planned especially for young people. Student take home
project - Record of findings.
THE OLD JAIL
This Building served as the county jail from 1890 to 1953. Today it is a museum
depicting various forms of punishment, weapons used by famed criminals and related
exhibits. It has recently been placed in the Register of National Historic Buildings.
11.
When was the Old Jail built?
12.
What was your favorite part of the Old Jail Tour?
THE SPANISH QUARTER
This is an outdoor, or "living", museum for visitors to the
nation's oldest city. Here you will have a guided tour behind
the garden walls of busy St. George Street, where interpreters
in period dress recreate the daily life of St. Augustine in the
mid-1700's.
By the end of the First Spanish Period (1565-1763), St. Augustine was a frontier
garrison town that increasingly benefitted from outside trade. Spanish Soldiers from
the nearby Castillo de San Marcos lived in houses clustered in barrios (neighborhoods).
Their wives were usually Indian or "mestiza" (mixed blood) women.
Their neighbors might be shopkeepers, priests, tavern keepers, ranchers, fishermen,
sailors, loggers, or artisans. Trade with the Indian nations and the English colonies
improved their economy. The population was on the rise. The Spaniards' departure,
making way for England's takeover in 1763, stalled the development of the Florida
colony.
THE CITY GATE
This gate, opened in 1739, provided the only access through the
defense lines on the north side. For a long period, it was only a log
and earthen gate. In 1808 the present coquina pillars were built
and the wall strengthened by stone work on either side.
THE LIGHTNER MUSEUM
Enjoy wandering through the museum's setting —— the former Hotel Alcazar, built in
1887 in the Spanish Renaissance style. Railroad magnate Henry M. Flagler
commissioned architects Carrere and Hastings to
design the Alcazar and the Ponce de Leon Hotel
(across the street). The two young architects later
designed the New York Public Library and the U.S.
Senate office building. After years of
accommodating vacationing wealthy patrons, the
elegant resort hotel closed.
Today, relics of America's Gilded Age are elegantly
exhibited on the museum's three floors. Costumes,
furnishings, mechanical musical instruments and
other artifacts give you a glimpse into 19th century
daily life. The Lightner collection includes beautiful examples of cut glass, Victorian art
glass and the stained glass work of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
THE OLDEST HOUSE (the Gonzalez-Alvarez House)
The Gonzalez-Alvarez house is one of the country's best documented and studied houses.
For more than a century after its founder, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, landed in 1565, St.
Augustine was a military outpost and was considered a threat to other nations. Raided and
burned by Sir Francis Drake in 1586, sacked by English pirates in 1668, and reduced to
ashes again by English troops from Carolina in 1702, its early history was marked by
violence and force. Despite that violence, archaeologists can show continuous occupancy of
the Oldest House site from the early 1600's to the present day.
Palm thatching and logs or boards formed the earliest shelters here. An early structure on
this site, built of those materials, was burned, probably in the 1702 fire.
New construction was more substantial, for royal permission was granted to use coquina
from the island, across the bay. At the Oldest House site, a floor for the two main rooms
was laid of tapia (tabby), a mixture of lime, shell and sand. That, with the coquina walls,
mark this oldest part of the house as typical of Spanish St. Augustine.
Tomas Gonzalez y Hernandez, an artilleryman at the Castillo, came from the Canary
Islands, married a local girl in 1723, and it is recorded that their baby died in the house in
1727. For forty years the Gonzalez family lived here. When Florida was ceded by Spain to
England in 1763, the town's 3,000 Spanish residents including Gonzalez and his family, had
to leave.
Major Joseph Peavett, a retired English officer,
purchased the house and started the chain of alterations
which brought the little building to its present shape and
size. Two years after Spain regained control of Florida in
1783, Peavett died. His widow Mary, married John
Hudson, a young Irish adventurer with little money
sense. To pay off Hudson's debt, in 1790 the house was
auctioned off to a newly arrived Spaniard, Geronimo
Alvarez. He and his descendants after him, lived in the
house for almost a hundred years.
Here they lived through the dangers of the Seminole Indian Wars and the Civil War.
Finally, in 1882 the house passed into other hands. In the next four decades it was home
to various occupants, including those who first opened it to the public as "The Oldest House
in the United States."
13.
When was the Oldest House site first occupied?
14.
What construction material was used for the Old House?
15.
What evidence do we have to prove the Gonzalez-Alvarez House really is the
Oldest House?
16.
Why is the second floor of the Oldest House so different from the first floor?
SCENIC CRUISE
Come aboard the St. Augustine Scenic Cruise’s Victory III and discover St. Augustine as its
original founders did - by water. Your friendly Captains are from the Usina family. The
Usina’s first came to St. Augustine in 1777 from the island of Minorca (just off the coast of
Spain).
During this fully narrated tour you will see historical landmarks including the Bridge of
Lions, The St. Augustine Bayfront, the Castillo de San Marcos (Old Fort), the Cross where
explorer Pedro Menendez landed, the St. Augustine Light House and the Ponce de Leon’s
Fountain of Youth.
Beyond the history you will enjoy St. Augustine’s extraordinary flora and fauna. Herons,
pelicans, cormorants and sea gulls are commonly found bathing in the Sun on an island of
sand, palm trees and oyster beds. It is not unusual to see Dolphin swimming along side
the boat as you journey along the Matanzas River, Matanzas Bay, St. Augustine Inlet and
Salt Run.
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
When you enter our site you will pass beneath the archway of this world famous attraction,
you are stepping onto the very property on which U.S. history began.
Seloy was the name of the Timucua Village, before the arrival of the Spanish in 1513, and
with Ponce de Leon's claim of possession for the Spanish King, La Florida was born. It is
within the boundaries of this property that the oldest continuously occupied European
settlement within our continental United States was formed -- St. Augustine.
Over the next 350 years the property was farmed and citrus orchards grew here until 1901
and with the arrival of Dr. Louella Day McConnell known as Diamond Lil, who traveled here
from the Klondike and
purchased the estate. Being a
bright and enterprising woman
of the day, she began to
charge an admission price to
drink from the waters of the
free flowing spring found on
the property.
Over the last 100 years, many
thousands of guests have
visited in order to sip the world
famous waters and hear the
history behind its legendary
benefits. While here, please
also visit our Discovery Globe,
Navigator's Planetarium,
Indian Burial Grounds, and Shipwreck Exhibit.
RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT!
Ripley’s is the finest collection of oddities and curiosities in the
World, containing well over 4,000 different specimens. It
contains items that the younger generation would call “freaky”
or “weird,” but the greatest proportion are important pieces that
any public museum would be glad to display.
The collection was started in the 1920's by Robert Ripley.
Strange artifacts found in faraway places had a fascination for
people. Museum experts scoured sites everywhere and carried
away shiploads of archaeological treasures to satisfy the curiosity of the people back home.
With the discovery of strange artifacts came even stranger stories. Encyclopedias and
periodicals dug up tales of primitive superstition and bizarre native rituals. Newspapers’
best reporters were sent out to remote areas, including the jungles of Africa, to get the
stories.
Ripley continued to travel looking for souvenirs. The more bizarre items normally neglected
by museums made great conversation pieces at parties. He brought home huge crates of
foreign curiosities. His home was crammed with massive furniture and works of art from
China and the South Seas. Hundreds of items lay in warehouses unseen. Ripley himself
had never examined half of them.
It was not long before friends were urging him to put his treasures on public display. The
first exhibition of Ripley’s treasures was in Chicago in 1933. By 1940, there were three
“Odditoriums” running simultaneously and a number of trailer shows toured the country.
Everywhere they went, the public received them with enthusiasm.
Robert L. Ripley died in 1949. In 1950, his heirs began the first serious attempt to bring
together and catalog the vast accumulation of curios. From the various storage
warehouses, homes of Ripley, and trailer shows, the first permanent Ripley’s Believe It or
Not! Museum at St. Augustine got its start.
Ripley’s collection is now housed in eight Believe It or Not! Museums throughout the
country. No one museum houses the best of Ripley. Each offers a carefully structured
assortment of the unique, the bizarre, the beautiful and the monstrous. We must all pay
tribute to the man who put it all together for our wonder and our learning.
17.
Where was Ripley’s first exhibition?
18.
Where did Ripley collect these “oddities” for his exhibitions?
19.
What was your impression of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!?
20.
How many Ripley’s museums are there?
THE ST. AUGUSTINE LIGHTHOUSE
The Spanish Watchtower St. Augustine has always been a challenge for mariners. The
conditions of the weather, water, and land are a hazard for citizens and marauders alike.
After Pedro Menendez founded St. Augustine in 1565, he decided to build a wooden tower
on the north end of Anastasia Island. The tower was to be manned by a single Spanish
soldier to help identify incoming ships. Primarily a defensive measure for the settlement,
the tower also served as a landmark for sailors attempting to locate the town from sea,
amid the wilderness. The watchtower was meant to aid ships to the location of the port but
it also showed the way for Sir Frances Drake in May of 1586. Drake, an English privateer,
pillaged and burned the city and the tower.
The Coquina Lighthouse Within six months of Florida becoming a United States territory
in 1821, the Territorial Council forwarded a request to President Monroe for lighthouses to
be built at Pensacola and St. Augustine. As a result, the Spanish coquina
guardhouse/watchtower was converted to a true lighthouse. On April 5, 1824, Juan Andreu
was named the first lightkeeper of the first lighthouse in the State of Florida. Ten big oil
lamps in front of mirrors produced the light.
During the Civil War, Florida joined the Confederacy and the flame was extinguished in 1862
by Captain George Gibbs to prevent Union attack by sea. Paul Arnau, collector of customs
in St. Augustine, removed and buried the lens. It was eventually recovered, but the light
was not relit until 1867.
The New Brick Lighthouse In 1885, the Lighthouse Board changed the lamp fuel to
kerosene. In 1936, the St. Augustine lighthouse was the last Florida lighthouse to get
electricity. Since there was no oil to carry or soot to clean off the lens the number of
keepers was reduced to two.
In 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Service was abolished and its duties were transferred to the
United States Coast Guard. In 1955, the light was automated. A photocell gauges sunlight
intensity and turns the light bulb inside the Fresnel lens on and off. On-site keepers were
no longer needed. Lamplighters, Coast Guard employees living off-site, regularly checked
on the light. Since automation, the lens rotates continuously. This prevents flat spots from
developing on the bronze carriage wheels from the weight of the lens. The movement also
breaks up the sun’s rays during the day.
Statistics
•
•
•
The Lighthouse contains an estimated 1.2 million bricks.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse, with its distinctive black and
white spiral and red top is 165 feet tall.
There are 219 steps to the observation deck which is about the
height of a fourteen-story building or the bridge of a destroyer.
ST. AUGUSTINE WORD SCRAMBLE
Can you find these words relating to St. Augustine? (They can be found vertical, horizontal,
diagonal, frontwards or backwards.)
SPANISH MILITARY HOSPITAL WORD SCRAMBLE
CHAMBER POT
BONE SAW
CLOVES
MORTAR
MILITARY
TOURNIQUET
SPAIN
HOSPITAL
TENACULUM
HEN RATIONS
WARD
ALOE
TREPANNING
SCALPEL
COCHINEAL
PILL
CHOCOLATE
CAUTERIZE
SURGEON
POULTICE
APOTHECARY
PRIEST
LIMBS
PHYSICIAN
LAVENDER
BALL
PESTLE
MUSKET
M
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C
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ANSWER SHEET
1.
Ponce de Leon - April 3, 1513
2.
Pedro Menendez - 1565
3.
Because the British had established colonies in Georgia and the Carolinas
4.
To gain a foothold in North America and to protect Spanish treasure ships
5.
He built the railroad which connected St. Augustine with the lines that reached the
North. He then built luxury hotels to attract wealthy Northerners to the city, promoting
the area as a winter resort.
6.
Hospital, City Hall and several churches
7.
Coquina shell stone
8.
From Anastasia Island
9.
The cannon balls imbedded in the porous coquina walls instead of cracking them.
10.
1695
11.
1890-91
12.
Student responses will vary
13.
Early 1600's
14.
The walls are made of coquina shell stone, the floors are of tabby (a mixture of lime,
shell and sand), roofs were thatched.
15.
The record of a death of a small child in the home in 1702
16.
Because it was added after the English gained control of St. Augustine and reflects
British architecture of the late 18th century.
17.
Chicago
18.
Throughout Africa, China and the South Seas.
19.
Student responses will vary
20.
Eight