HISTORY AND TREASURES OF ST. ANGUSTINE

THE HISTORY AND TREASURES OF ST.AUGUSTINE.

I fell in love with florida instantly, though it took me awhile to stop missing my loved ones that I left behind back home. But leaving THE BIG APPLE to come to a state that I’ve never been to before and has so much beauty that I have come to know of, makes me appreciate it even more when I found out about its history and St.Augustine.

I had no idea that Florida not only has THE BIG O as I call it.  (Orlando, our favorite place to visit and vacation in). But it also has the “OLDEST CITY IN THE NATION” FOUNDED IN 1565 by the spanish, and was at one time owned by the government of Spain, Britian, and the United States for quite some time each but ended up belonging to Florida since 1821.  Then Florida became a State in 1845.  In the 1880’s Oil co-founder Henry M Flagler started building hotels and made a resort community then he founded the FLORIDA EASTCOAST RAILWAY to transport guests to and from the north to his hotels in ST.AUGUSTINE, PALM BEACH AND MIAMI.”THE INLET” also known as “THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH” was named by archaeologists from the university of Florida, several blocks north of the city gate and the Castillo de San Marcos.

The former St.Augustine hotels today are the Flagler College (Hotel Ponce de Leon).  The heart of the city is the downtown Plaza de la Consitution with most of the historic buildings located within a block or two from the plaza,to the north and to the south. The Castillo de San Marcos, build of coquina by the spanish in 1672 anchors the city’s north end of the bayfront. The bridge of Lions, build in 1927, links the downtown with Davis Shores, a residential community dating back to the 1920’s and St.Augustine Beach. Today is home to 12,000 residents.