10-22-22 St Augustine
With only one full day in St. Augustine, we decided to take advantage of the Old Town Trolley Hop-On Hop-Off Tour. It was important to research the trolley stops to prioritize ones we wanted time to explore. I also recorded estimated times for the trolley to go from one stop to the next based on first complete run of the day from the website. We needed to ensure we would have transportation back to our car at the end of our day. We would NOT be able to do everything that interested us, so it was imperative that we made a specific plan and followed it to get the most in.
There was limited FREE parking at Stop 1 (The Old Jail). We arrived about 8:30 am, parked. We had time to check out Gator Bob’s Trading Post before boarding the first trolley of the day (9:00am). We stayed on the trolley through Stop 10.
Ready to go! Easily got the back seat. (We like this to have better chance to get pictures on both sides of the road or as we pass the landmark.)
The city gates were built in the early 1800’s. The set of gates above provided a safe haven where farmers brought their crops for open market trade during the day. At night the gates closed so the goods were locked up for safe keeping till the next day.
Stop 3 – Potter’s Wax Museum; Stop 4 – City Gates
CHURCHES:
Grace United Methodist
Ancient City Baptist Church
During my research, I discovered that Flagler College offered student-led tours, but only at 10am and 1pm. To make the 10am tour we needed to remain on the trolley till Stop 10 which was within a block of the college. It was getting close, but we made it in time to purchase a ticket.
Flagler College used to be a very prestigious hotel. It is the most iconic building of St. Augustine. It is an active four-year, private college. Current charge for tuition, room and board is $37,000 per YEAR! And people wonder why student loans are such a financial burden to young people (and those in their late 30’s-40’s STILL paying their loans due to bank greed).
Beautiful mosaic and carved terra cotta details! What a cool seashell design doorknob.
Exterior doors that are massive, but absolutely beautiful!
Copper gargoyle from the Hotel Ponce De Leon’s courtyard 1885-1887.
Flagler College Tour:
The hotel was built with a strong, organized, symmetrical plan featuring a central axis that runs straight through the complex from south to north, with several cross axes.
The inside is exquisite with its architectural features and all the interior decorative appointments. Even the bathroom that I used was beautiful.
Gorgeous floors and carved details! (Entry and octagonal rotunda)
Spectacular ceiling of the rotunda.
Extensions out from the rotunda
Dining room with barrel-vaulted ceiling. The 3 1/2 story dining room has 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass windows.
Villa Zorayda Museum.
The early local stone used throughout St Augustine and some roads was coquina. Below at the Villa Zorayda, a coquina reinforced concrete was used. You can see the tiny white shells cemented together. It’s pretty cool. I think it gives concrete a much nicer aesthetic.
We boarded the next trolley that came by, and were now running 30 minutes ahead of “schedule” which gave us a bit more breathing room. Below are sites along the way from Stop 10 – Stop 17.
LINCOLNVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT
This once was the site of Indian villages, colonial plantations and orange groves. Lincolnville began in 1866, as a settlement of emancipated African-Americans, who traced their origins to the founding of St Augustine, played an integral role in the history of the city for centuries before the forced segregation of the late 1800s led them to create their own community institutions. Here they built churches, schools, and a vibrant business center surrounded by residences that displayed the ornate architecture of the age.
By 1930, the Lincolnville neighborhood had become a major part of the City. I encompassed the African-American community and the adjacent white residential areas that had grown up with it. In 1964, civil rights demonstrations organized in Lincolnville attracted attention nationwide attention and influenced the Congressional debate that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today, the Lincolnville neighborhood is a fifty-block area that is the Ancient City’s largest concentration of late Victorian Era buildings. Most of them are private homes. Lincolnville Historic District was listed on the National Registry in 1991.
Public Market Place and nearby historic buildings.
The medallion in the sidewalk below is the historical marker for the Rosario Redoubt. Under it lies a segment of the foundation for the Rosario Redoubt, which was an eight-foot tall masonry fortification constructed in 1762 along the Rosario Line. It was part of the defense established for the colonial city. It was discovered/uncovered in 2008 by St Augustine City’s Archaeologist Carl Halbert. This marker is found at the intersection of Cordova St and Cathedral Place in the Historic District. For more info: Rosario Redoubt
Evidently there are additional markers throughout St Augustine. A second one was near here with an above ground stone marker, on Tolomato Street. This part of the Rosario Redoubt protected the old governor’s house.
The SEAWALL
Castillo de San Marcos.
To explore Castillo de San Marcos there is a $16 per adult charge, but it was a FREE site with our National Park Pass! Cool! The National Park app on my phone had self-guided tours for three different areas of the fort. Unfortunately, they were not auditory tours as I expected, and reading the phone screen in the bright sun just didn’t work. That was OK, though, because there was plenty of signage throughout the fort property that kept us well informed.
Historical highlights via a timeline:
Religion was important. Catholics dip their fingers in holy water and make the sign of the cross prior to worship and prayer. Decades of worshippers did that here in Castillo’s chapel. It is assumed that over time the oils and minerals from so many hands started erosion on the basins. Glass was placed in front of the remains of a plastered holy water font to help preserve it.
This tidal toilet reminds me of the similar one we saw in Boston on the USS Constitution. Unfortunately, this tidal toilet was only a twice-a-day flush being 100% dependent on the tide coming in to fill the trench with seawater, and then “take “flush” it out as the tide recedes. Necessity and practicality unite.
READING a cannon!?!
Looking at the various cannons became more interesting for me. It was cool to see the variety. Obviously some were in better condition than others depending on the weather it received over time.
Heading out.
Drawbridge opens up to allow sailing boat to pass through.
After exploring Castillo de San Marcos for two hours, we hopped back on a trolley and continued the provided info tour of the last few stops.
The Old Senator Tree – 600 year old Live Oak near Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth.
I was interested in checking this out on our way home today, but parts were closing and we didn’t want to get locked in. LOL
With time to spare we remained on the trolley to continue back around to Stop 3 where we got off to walk to the St Augustine Distillery. We felt walking may be faster than taking the trolley with its stops, while also allowing us to get better pictures of the gorgeous Memorial Presbyterian Church.
Memorial Presbyterian Church where Flagler buried one of his wives, a daughter who died a few days after childbirth, and her baby girl who lived only 2 hours after birth. Flagler had this church built in record time.
Barry was pleased that we were winding down our non-stop day with a local distillery and a local winery.
St. Augustine Distillery was established in 2014. This was my first time visiting a distillery. (Yes, I’ve lead a sheltered life. LOL)
ALL locally grown!
There were a few cocktails to try, and their Bourbon Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup. OMG that syrup was incredible. It was pure maple syrup from Michigan, but aged in St Augustine’s bourbon barrels. We had to get some. We don’t have pancakes often, so using this sparingly, it should last us quite a while.
In addition to the syrup, we purchased their gin and the Grapefruit-Hibiscus cocktail mix. This was the one we both found the most refreshing (least sweet), plus there are only 7 carbs in a drink that uses 1-fluid ounce of the mix, 1oz of gin and 2oz of club soda/soda water over ice. NICE! Later I had it mixed with vodka. That was my preferred alcohol with mix.
What a cool stop this was. It was a FREE self-guided tour with TASTINGS along the way! I really don’t know why more places like this don’t offer free tastings like this. I’m sure they would MORE than make up for small free tastings with the sizable purchases that are sure to occur afterwards. This place was definitely making it worthwhile.
Fun shirts in the gift shop:
From St Augustine’s Distillery, we walked two blocks to the San Sebastian Winery. This winery was a disappointment to us. I guess we’ve had too much good Washington State and California wines. San Sebastian uses local muscadine grapes, which is the only grape that will grow easily in this climate. Other grapes have to be brought in from elsewhere. I tasted their chardonnay, but didn’t care for it. The pinot Grigio was better, but not one that had me wanting more. We usually drink reds, and the only red they offered was a Napa Valley one that is included in an additional $5 tasting. This was not the place to buy a wine from Napa!
Interesting information when it comes to making champagne!
This was a cool wine bottle. (Probably good that we didn’t care for the wine.)
Oooh –an empty one that can be used with any bottle of wine. Nah–we don’t need one. Took a picture of it instead. 🙂
Love these glasses, but are they still as likely to be knocked over as much as a regular glass? Are they harder to set down? Are they awkward to hold? Do people cut themselves off sooner? Are they just good for an expensive novelty?
These made me laugh:
We decided to call it a day. We waited for the next trolley to get back to the car a little early.
Back to where we started the day.
Barry and I were both pleased with all that we saw and experienced today. St Augustine – the Ancient City is a beautiful city. There is still more for us to do on a return trip.
The next morning we got up early to catch the sunrise at the St Augustine beach. We weren’t the only sunrise seekers, but we were surprised to see surfers arrive.
Pics from Barry Drone:
Time to head to Orlando!