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 tellof Bimini, a fabulous island in the North. Historians do not unanimously honor at fullvalue the romantic story that Ponce was seeking to find the fountain of youth. Yet itwas not incredible to men of that day - when the very existence of a New World washardly believable to those who had not seen it with their own eyes - that those whohad touched these shores should believe in greater magic in this strange realm. Andcertainly there is no legend more appropriate to the beginning of America than thatthis 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 mainartery, 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 onEaster, 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 Spainlaunched six expeditions to settle Florida, but all failed.

The French succeeded in establishing a fort and colony on the St. Johns River in 1564and in doing so, threatened Spain's treasure fleets which sailed along Florida'sshoreline returning to Spain. As a result of this incursion into Florida, King Phillip IInamed Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Spain's most experienced admiral, as governorof Florida, instructing him to explore and to colonize the territory. Menendez was alsoinstructed to drive out any pirates or settlers from other nations, should they be foundthere.

On June 20, 1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles sailed from Spain for Florida with 19ships and 1,000 people. The expedition at one time had swelled to more than 1,500people but after storms at sea, the expedition diminished in size to five ships and 500soldiers, 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 Dayof St. Augustine. Eleven days later, he and his soldiers and settlers came ashore atthe site of the Timucuan Indian village of Seloy with banners flying and trumpetssounding. He hastily fortified the fledgling village and named it St. Augustine.

Utilizing brilliant military maneuvers, Menendez destroyed the French garrison on theSt. Johns River and, with the help of a hurricane, also defeated the French fleet. Withthe 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 atJamestown, Virginia, and fifty-five years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rockin Massachusetts - making it the oldest permanent European settlement on the NorthAmerican continent.

Maintaining St. Augustine became a mighty task over the next twohundred years. In 1586, English corsair Sir Francis Drake attacked andburned the town. Then in 1668, the pirate Captain John Davisplundered 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, Spainauthorized the building of a stone fort to protect St. Augustine as assaults from thenorth became more frequent. The Castillo de San Marcos took twenty-three years tobuild but, once in place, stood as the town's stalwart defender. Major attacks weremade against her in 1702 by Governor James Moore of South Carolina and in 1740 byGeneral 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 capitalof Cuba, ushering in twenty years of British rule in Florida. This period coincided withthe 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 ofthirty-seven years. The Spanish departed for the last time when Spain sold Florida tothe United States of America. At a colorful military ceremony on July 10, 1821, UStroops took possession of the territory and Spain relinquished control of Floridaforever.

Soon after the American occupation, St. Augustine suffered a series of setbacks. In1821, a yellow fever epidemic brought death to many newcomers. Also, uprisings bythe Seminole Indians culminated in the Seminole War of 1836, which called a halt todevelopment of St. Augustine's economy.

In 1845, Florida became the twenty-seventh state admitted to the Union. The Castillode San Marcos was renamed Fort Marion in honor of a Revolutionary War hero, andthe capital of East Florida was moved from St. Augustine to become part of the statecapital 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 wasoccupied by Union troops throughout most of the conflict. When the war ended in1865, the town was three centuries old.

THE HENRY FLAGLER ERA

The war's end brought speculators and land developers to Florida along with thebeginnings 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 andplayground for rich Northerners.

Flagler, a co-founder of the Standard OilCompany with John D. Rockefeller,immediately put his vast fortune to workbuilding his dream. He constructed two lavishhotels, the beautiful Alcazar, and hismasterpiece-the Ponce de Leon.

These hotels allowed St. Augustine toaccommodate the wealthiest of travelers withluxurious lodgings and a fine array of leisureactivities. His Florida East Coast Railwayensured a transportation link between New

York and St. Augustine, and he built a two-story depot to properly receive arrivingguests. Flagler was also responsible for building the town's hospital, city hall, andseveral churches.

Flagler expanded his dream south toward Palm Beach when he moved there in theearly 1900's, but had given St. Augustine an era of prestige and prosperity - theeffects of which are still evident today.

Flagler's vision would forever change the face of St. Augustine, but natural disasteralso altered the town's appearance. In 1887 and 1914, fires wiped out many historicbuildings between the plaza and the north city gates.

In 1959, the state began an ongoing preservation effort, meticulously restoring manycolonial structures to their original appearance, and historic St. Augustine has becomea center of colonial Spanish culture and an important destination for travelers from allparts 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 thepast. From the time of its founding, St. Augustine always had a fort to defend itagainst 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 fortresshere. Its construction was begun in 1672, a century before the Revolutionary War. Itwas essentially completed in 1695 although some of the outer work was added duringlater periods. Free artisans, impressed Indian labor, convicts, and slaves were used inits construction.

The stone used in this fort, and later in many of St. Augustine's other buildings is calledcoquina, which is made up of tiny shells and sand, fused together over thousands ofyears. Coquina was quarried on Anastasia Island across the Matanzas Bay, cut intoblocks, 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, thecoquina 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 orshatter them.

After the fort was completed, it successfully withstood two English sieges and was nevercaptured 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 thatstood 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 whichare still used today).

Since mortality rates were high, a Mourning Room was part of the Hospital. Here thePriest gave blessings to patients before death occurred.

Patients were housed in the Hospital Ward and the Apothecary is where medicines weredispensed. Students will tour all of the above as they role play being a patient in theSpanish 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 ofsettlers to found St. Augustine, so named because his ships first sighted the Floridacoast on St. Augustine's Day, August 28. Father Francisco Lopez, Chaplain of theSpanish 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. WhenMenendez and his principal officers landed, amid the roar of the cannon and the blare ofthe trumpets, the priest went out to meet them holding aloft a cross and singing thehymn "Te Deum Laudamus," the same hymn that is sung in church services today. Curious Indians watched both proceedings. Thus St. Augustine came into existence andwas launched upon its span of over four centuries.

During the next two hundred years this area was the site of an activeIndian Mission named "Nombre de Dios"-"Name of God.” It was the firstmission in what is now the United States and is still administered by theCatholic Church. To commemorate the Mission's 400th Anniversary,which occurred in 1965, the Catholic Church erected a new VotiveChurch and a 200 foot high cross to mark the place where Christianityfirst took root in this country.

OLD FLORIDA MUSEUM

Students will experience history first hand at the Old Florida Museum. CostumedGuides will lead your class through an interactive trip through Florida’s History. A takehome 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 - Indianjewelry.

Spanish Colonial/ Fort Mose Program - Learn about daily life in Spanish Colonial timesand 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 foryoung people. Student take home project - hand dipped candle taper.

Early Florida Pioneer Program - Attend class in a one room school house and experiencea day in the life of a child in the 1800s. Students will participate in corn shelling andmilling, write with a quill pen, draw water from a pitcher pump, play pioneer games, trytheir roping skills and garden with a push plow. Student take home project - Quill penwriting sample on parchment paper.

Archaeological Dig Program - In this new program students will learn about the field ofarchaeology. A mock dig to uncover and identify findings on their own will be includedin this great hands on activity planned especially for young people. Student take homeproject - Record of findings.

THE OLD JAIL

This Building served as the county jail from 1890 to 1953. Today it is a museumdepicting various forms of punishment, weapons used by famed criminals and relatedexhibits. 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 thenation's oldest city. Here you will have a guided tour behindthe garden walls of busy St. George Street, where interpretersin period dress recreate the daily life of St. Augustine in themid-1700's.

By the end of the First Spanish Period (1565-1763), St. Augustine was a frontiergarrison town that increasingly benefitted from outside trade. Spanish Soldiers fromthe 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 coloniesimproved their economy. The population was on the rise. The Spaniards' departure,making way for England's takeover in 1763, stalled the development of the Floridacolony.

THE CITY GATE

This gate, opened in 1739, provided the only access through thedefense lines on the north side. For a long period, it was only a logand earthen gate. In 1808 the present coquina pillars were builtand the wall strengthened by stone work on either side.

THE LIGHTNER MUSEUM

Enjoy wandering through the museum's setting —— the former Hotel Alcazar, built in1887 in the Spanish Renaissance style. Railroad magnate Henry M. Flagler

commissioned architects Carrere and Hastings todesign the Alcazar and the Ponce de Leon Hotel(across the street). The two young architects laterdesigned the New York Public Library and the U.S.Senate office building. After years ofaccommodating vacationing wealthy patrons, theelegant resort hotel closed.

Today, relics of America's Gilded Age are elegantlyexhibited on the museum's three floors. Costumes,furnishings, mechanical musical instruments andother artifacts give you a glimpse into 19th century

daily life. The Lightner collection includes beautiful examples of cut glass, Victorian artglass 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 andburned by Sir Francis Drake in 1586, sacked by English pirates in 1668, and reduced toashes again by English troops from Carolina in 1702, its early history was marked byviolence and force. Despite that violence, archaeologists can show continuous occupancy ofthe 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 onthis site, built of those materials, was burned, probably in the 1702 fire.

New construction was more substantial, for royal permission was granted to use coquinafrom the island, across the bay. At the Oldest House site, a floor for the two main roomswas 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 CanaryIslands, married a local girl in 1723, and it is recorded that their baby died in the house in1727. For forty years the Gonzalez family lived here. When Florida was ceded by Spain toEngland in 1763, the town's 3,000 Spanish residents including Gonzalez and his family, hadto leave.

Major Joseph Peavett, a retired English officer,purchased the house and started the chain of alterationswhich brought the little building to its present shape andsize. Two years after Spain regained control of Florida in1783, Peavett died. His widow Mary, married JohnHudson, a young Irish adventurer with little moneysense. To pay off Hudson's debt, in 1790 the house wasauctioned off to a newly arrived Spaniard, GeronimoAlvarez. He and his descendants after him, lived in thehouse 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 hometo various occupants, including those who first opened it to the public as "The Oldest Housein 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 theOldest 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 itsoriginal founders did - by water. Your friendly Captains are from the Usina family. TheUsina’s first came to St. Augustine in 1777 from the island of Minorca (just off the coast ofSpain). During this fully narrated tour you will see historical landmarks including the Bridge ofLions, The St. Augustine Bayfront, the Castillo de San Marcos (Old Fort), the Cross whereexplorer Pedro Menendez landed, the St. Augustine Light House and the Ponce de Leon’sFountain 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 ofsand, palm trees and oyster beds. It is not unusual to see Dolphin swimming along sidethe boat as you journey along the Matanzas River, Matanzas Bay, St. Augustine Inlet andSalt Run.

THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTHWhen 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, andwith Ponce de Leon's claim of possession for the Spanish King, La Florida was born. It iswithin the boundaries of this property that the oldest continuously occupied Europeansettlement within our continental United States was formed -- St. Augustine. Over the next 350 years the property was farmed and citrus orchards grew here until 1901and with the arrival of Dr. Louella Day McConnell known as Diamond Lil, who traveled herefrom the Klondike andpurchased the estate. Being abright and enterprising womanof the day, she began tocharge an admission price todrink from the waters of thefree flowing spring found onthe property.

Over the last 100 years, manythousands of guests havevisited in order to sip the worldfamous waters and hear thehistory behind its legendarybenefits. While here, pleasealso 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 theWorld, containing well over 4,000 different specimens. Itcontains items that the younger generation would call “freaky”or “weird,” but the greatest proportion are important pieces thatany 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 forpeople. 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 andperiodicals 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 thestories.

Ripley continued to travel looking for souvenirs. The more bizarre items normally neglectedby museums made great conversation pieces at parties. He brought home huge crates offoreign curiosities. His home was crammed with massive furniture and works of art fromChina and the South Seas. Hundreds of items lay in warehouses unseen. Ripley himselfhad never examined half of them.

It was not long before friends were urging him to put his treasures on public display. Thefirst 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 bringtogether and catalog the vast accumulation of curios. From the various storagewarehouses, homes of Ripley, and trailer shows, the first permanent Ripley’s Believe It orNot! Museum at St. Augustine got its start.Ripley’s collection is now housed in eight Believe It or Not! Museums throughout thecountry. No one museum houses the best of Ripley. Each offers a carefully structuredassortment of the unique, the bizarre, the beautiful and the monstrous. We must all paytribute 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. Theconditions 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 toweron the north end of Anastasia Island. The tower was to be manned by a single Spanishsoldier 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 butit 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 territoryin 1821, the Territorial Council forwarded a request to President Monroe for lighthouses tobe built at Pensacola and St. Augustine. As a result, the Spanish coquinaguardhouse/watchtower was converted to a true lighthouse. On April 5, 1824, Juan Andreuwas named the first lightkeeper of the first lighthouse in the State of Florida. Ten big oillamps in front of mirrors produced the light.During the Civil War, Florida joined the Confederacy and the flame was extinguished in 1862by Captain George Gibbs to prevent Union attack by sea. Paul Arnau, collector of customsin St. Augustine, removed and buried the lens. It was eventually recovered, but the lightwas not relit until 1867.

The New Brick Lighthouse In 1885, the Lighthouse Board changed the lamp fuel tokerosene. In 1936, the St. Augustine lighthouse was the last Florida lighthouse to getelectricity. Since there was no oil to carry or soot to clean off the lens the number ofkeepers was reduced to two.

In 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Service was abolished and its duties were transferred to theUnited States Coast Guard. In 1955, the light was automated. A photocell gauges sunlightintensity and turns the light bulb inside the Fresnel lens on and off. On-site keepers wereno longer needed. Lamplighters, Coast Guard employees living off-site, regularly checkedon the light. Since automation, the lens rotates continuously. This prevents flat spots fromdeveloping on the bronze carriage wheels from the weight of the lens. The movement alsobreaks 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 MORTARMILITARY TOURNIQUET SPAIN HOSPITALTENACULUM HEN RATIONS WARD ALOETREPANNING SCALPEL COCHINEAL PILLCHOCOLATE CAUTERIZE SURGEON POULTICEAPOTHECARY PRIEST LIMBS PHYSICIANLAVENDER BALL PESTLE MUSKET

M Q E E C H A M B E R P O T Z

U M I L I T A R Y C G U C R F

S U O S E V O L C I N S A E N

K L F R N U R S E T I P U P A

E U N O T H E H X L N A T A I

T C S D Y A M O W U N I E Z C

W A R D E N R S A O A N R N I

U N T S E I R P S P P M I I S

T Q N N I S I I E V E Y Z N Y

E T M Z T L O T N S R M E G H

U K U T L O P A O C T A U B P

Q S L A U G H L B A L L O O L

I B U X S N O I T A R N E H A

N M C H O C O L A T E Z X I P

R I A L A E N I H C O C M U L

U L N A P O T H E C A R Y V A

O H E L P L A V E N D E R U C

T E T H E A L L N O E G R U S

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 theNorth. He then built luxury hotels to attract wealthy Northerners to the city, promotingthe 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 reflectsBritish architecture of the late 18th century.

17. Chicago

18. Throughout Africa, China and the South Seas.

19. Student responses will vary

20. Eight