We made our longest drive of the trip from Apalachicola to the east coast city of St. Augustine with barely any stops. It was over a 5 hour drive, but by staying off the freeways it was quite scenic.
We wanted to visit St. Augustine as this is the oldest city in the United States, established in 1565 by Spanish settlers. It is absolutely chock full of history! On our first day we took a walking tour booked via Trip Advisor, which we highly recommend as it gives you a good perspective and points out places to go back to later. We met on Aviles Street, the oldest street in the United States, dating back to the 1570’s. The building in the background is the Treasury on the Plaza. In the foreground is a restaurant called Forgotten Tonic, which had the best Shrimp and Grits I had on the entire trip!! Eat here! Make sure you request Tatum, she was awesome!
This is looking the other direction along Aviles Street. Yes, this street is one-way! The woman in black in front of the salmon colored building might have been a ghost….she was walking down the street and literally disappeared seconds later??
St. Augustine was built in a Spanish style, and therefore has a central square that takes up a whole city block, called Plaza de la Constitucion. On the corner of this block is this open air market space, that once held a Spanish guard house and watch tower. When St. Augustine was part of Britain, this became the place of public auction and has since been called the Slave Market, where slaves were bought and sold.
This is where our guide discussed the Civil Rights movement of the early 60’s, and how St. Augustine became a hot bed of protests, sit-in’s, wade-in’s, and other actions of the time. Here is a photo of protesters walking by the exact same site in 1964.
Our guide took us into what he called the “smallest Hilton Hotel in the world”, as they were not allowed to build upwards so they simply took over a city block and turned individual houses into the hotel rooms.
The hotel sits on the site of the infamous Monson Motel, where the Civil Rights Movement came to a boil in 1964. The photo below shows the actual steps to the former Monson Restaurant, where MLK told the owner he was going to walk inside and get a cup of coffee. Side note: yes, it’s not even Halloween and they are already decorating for Christmas!
Here is the hotel owner, James Brock, confronting MLK on the steps of the restaurant. MLK was arrested shortly after trying to enter the restaurant, which was “whites only”.
Here is a photo of a sit-in outside the Monson Restaurant. The famous steps can be seen middle right.
One more tidbit from this hotel. A group of black protesters jumped in the hotel pool a week after the MLK arrest, and the previously mentioned owner, James Brock, is seen dumping muriatic acid into the pool in an effort to get them out. Numerous reporters got photos of this act and it was broadcast all over the world the next day. Two weeks later, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law.
I liked the heavy Spanish Moss on this tree framing the American Flag. This stuff is everywhere! We have been warned multiple times not to grab it as it’s filled with insects called Chiggers, a nasty biting mite! There is an urban myth that the very first auto recall was the Model T from Ford, as the claim is they used Spanish Moss to stuff the seats, and they were filled with Chiggers. We heard this myth twice, but my blog research says Ford never used the stuff. Makes a good story though!
We then heard the history of Henry Flagler, one of the worlds wealthiest men, who first visited St. Augustine in 1883-84, as it was a spot frequented by northeastern high society, and was recommended by doctors to alleviate pulmonary disorders due to the climate. St. Augustine was not built up at that point, but Flagler saw an opportunity here. He built a new railroad connection from Jacksonville, and in 1888, his ultra luxurious Hotel Ponce de Leon opened.
In 1968 the gorgeous hotel became Flagler College, and now houses college students. More on this coming up, as we toured the college a couple of days later.
Our walking tour ended back at the city’s Plaza, at a street corner called Andrew Young Crossing, another historic Civil Rights spot. On June 9, 1964, Civil Rights leader Andrew Young led a delegation of protesters from their church to the Plaza where they met a group of KKK members.
This set of steps represents Andrew’s walk into the Plaza where he was attacked by the KKK, all caught by the media, bringing further attention to the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
In the center of Plaza de la Constitucion is this monument to the Spanish Constitution of 1812, built when St. Augustine was under Spanish rule.
Directly across the street from the Plaza is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, the oldest Catholic Church in St. Augustine, built in 1797. I found the red ceiling quite unique.
We also found a first (for us at least) in the pews, the fact you can use Venmo or Paypal to donate to the church.
Coming up, we visit the cities famous fort and the Ponce de Leon Fountain of Youth!!