This past weekend, I had the opportunity to spend the weekend in beautiful, warm St. Augustine, Florida. St. Augustine was established in 1565 by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles and is the oldest permanent settlement in the continental United States. This little town is packed with history and as a historian myself, I couldn't resist the toursity, historical attractions.
First up was the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument; the fort!
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| Arial view of Castillo (pic not mine) |
The Spanish were here a lot longer than the fort was, almost 150 years prior to the building of the fort. The Spanish had only errected wooden forts and cities, but constant invaders (other countries and pirates) continuously ransacked the area, pillaging and burning. The Spanish did not reliquish their hold on the area and in 1672, they started the building of the Castillo.
The fort, although switching hands several times, has never been defeated in battle. This is mainly due to the construction of the walls. The walls are made of coquina or limestone and tiny shells, which creates air pockets into the walls. Rather than cannonballs destroying the walls when fired upon, the walls would absorb the balls. Also, at one point, the fort was fortified with up to 74 cannons with ranges up to 3.5 miles.
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| Image not mine. |
Old ruins not your thing? Well second up, and perhaps more interesting for some people, was St. Augutine's Ghost and Gravestones, a ghost trolley tour throughout the town. While some of you may be unbelievers (BE DOOMED [they made us shout that out at people making fun of us - VB]), the stories they told about the buildings and the deaths of people were historically true. The hauntings.. well, I will leave that up to you.
Here are some of the tales they told and some photo testimonials.
The final historical, tourist attraction I went to was the Fountain of Youth. The Fountain of Youth made popular, quite recently with the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie, was believed to make any person who drank the water to remain youthful forever.
I drank some of the water and I wasn't impressed. What I was impressed with was with the rest of the site. Although very touristy, the exhibits and living history attractions had a lot of information, including firearms demonstrations. This area was the older part of St. Augustine, where the old wooden forts, mentioned above were built before the Castillo. This park also focuses on the Native Americans living in the area prior and after the Spanish came. For more information on a detailed history of the area or the exhibits themselves.
-VB
Images ARE mine, mostly, well actually my Husband's.
