St. Augustine, Fl

Saturday, Feb. 11th-A gentle rain made a restful night as we slumbered at the Cracker Barrel “Campground” in St. Augustine.  Before nodding off, we enjoyed some family lingering time while watching The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry.

We woke up this morning to a sunny but cold day.  We again were transported back to another time as we studied the land Ponce de Leon (love how this name sounds) discovered and explored in 1513.  St. Augustine became the oldest, continuously occupied European settlement in the United States est. in 1565, 42 yr. before Jamestown and 55 years before Plymouth.  We first toured the Castillos de San Marcos and were in awe of it’s sheer size and how European it felt with the moat and draw bridge..  The oldest masonory fort in N. America, it has 14 inch walls and is 30 feet high.  Built by the Spanish out of Conquina (tiny shells that were bonded together by passage of time, these shells formed a type of limestone. It was quarried in chunks from Anastasia Island across the bay and ferried to the construction site.   Mortor used between the blocks were made out of burned oyster shells and sand.  It was extremely durable and acted like styrofoam when the canons made contact. When British forces laid siege in 1702, more than 1200 civilians and 300 soldiers crowded in the fort and remained safe for almost two months.

The fort was never taken by force though it did change hands through military agreements and political treaties.  The Spanish, British, Confederate States of America and the United States have all flown their flags here.

A couple highlights to our visit were the canon demonstration and receiving another Jr. Ranger Badge.  Since it is Black History Month, there was a reenactment of a woman from 1963 who lived in St. Augustine.  Her story was very powerful and moving as she shared how Martin Luther had been to St. Augustine and encouraged people to love America even when they didn’t love them back.  She shared how the KKK and police turned on demonstrators (white and blacks) with violence when they held a peaceful demonstration holding up signs for peace, love and equality.  She and her friends (14 and 15 yrs. at the time) were arrested, put in jail and then taken away to Ocala for 5 months with no visitation from parents.  The crime….trying to order off a menu in a café.  The governor had them released finally out of embarrassment due to the national publicity received.  Hard to believe this happened during Mark’s and my early years.

We enjoyed strolling down the streets of historic St. Augustine and noticing the different architecture.  It was hard to walk by the enticing cool shops but due to wanting to conserve time and money, Janae and I sacrificed our shopping desires.  The Colonial Spanish Quarter was open and we enjoyed a stroll through here.  There seemed to be more vendors set up than actual demonstrations but Stefan especially liked the double bellows in the blacksmith shop.  These were developed by the Moors from Mororco (who ruled Spain for 1000 years) and the Spanish hip guitar music.   

After a quick walk over to see Flagler College, we were off to pick up Miss Jim B to drive to Patrick Air Force Base.