Blogs from Saint Augustine, Florida, United States, North America - page 4

The Oldest House Today was my last day in Florida. I spent it soaking up Florida history before the long drive to Charleston. My first site was The Oldest House. It really is the oldest standing house in St. Augustine, but that isn’t the reason it has the name. It was one of St. Augustine’s first tourist attractions. The house was originally built in the 1750s, and it had two rooms. When the English took over, they added more rooms, but it was still one story. When the Americans took it over, they added a second story. In the Victorian era, owner Charles Carver added a round turret and a garage, and covered the interior with wood paneling. The house was one of the strangest looking buildings in town, and the Carvers started showing it to ... read more

(usual prelude - written on a Greyhound on 2 March going N from St Augustine to next stop Savannah, Georgia – at last leaving the warm clutches of Florida) On a general note, better to write on the bus – otherwise I would have been up all night doing this – when in fact the more urgent chore (and it is in fact time rather consuming in itself) is planning the next day or so accommodation and location as close to the Greyhound as possible (rather than telling youse about what I did today etc). In the case of Savannah it is right across the street so this is better than ever thought possible! And my new buddy Brandon, met waiting at the St Augustine Greyhound “stop” (only really a sign on the rather large multi-storey ... read more

We arrived in St. Augustine on January 9th, which was two days earlier than planned as we were kicked out of McKinley campground in Georgia due to the approaching blizzard. It made for a few mail hassles as our forwarded mail arrived late in both places that we listed and I have to thank Bob’s daughter April and my sister in law and friend Kelly for forwarding these packages onward. I will list our daytrips separately but this entry is for several of the sights around St. Augustine. This is the oldest city in the United States and has served no fewer than five different flags. It was established by the Spanish but was also lived in by the French and the British and the architecture reflects this. It is right by the Mantanzas River and ... read more

Une autre étape importante vient de s’ajouter à notre voyage maritime. Et oui, nous avons touché le nord de la Floride (enfin !) le 18 novembre (mile 716 de l’ICW) après 2 mois de navigation et plusieurs arrêts touristiques tout au long de notre parcours ! Jeudi le 11 novembre : Nous quittons Georgetown, SC vers 7h30 (mile 403 de l’ICW) pour nous diriger à mi-chemin entre Georgetown et Charleston, SC. Encore une journée ensoleillée. Les nuits sont encore assez froides (40 F). Sur notre trajet aujourd’hui, l’ICW est plutôt large et est bordée de marécages qui abritent nous dit-on des alligators … Nous croisons ici et là quelques maisons isolées. Encore une fois, des dauphins viennent nous saluer en chemin. Nous nous arrêtons vers 15h30 après avoir parcouru 48 nautical miles. Notre site de mouillage ... read more

On my way up the coast to St. Augustine, I stopped in to visit a friend in Titusville. We had a lovely lunch of rock shrimp, which look and taste like tiny lobsters. Very tasty. Titusville is on the Florida Space Coast and Cape Kennedy is just across the bay. Bobby’s parents, Jeanie and Bob, have always told me that I would love Saint Augustine and they are right. Saint Augustine renewed my faith that Florida does indeed have a future! In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon arrived in Florida from Puerto Rica (known then as San Juan,) and claimed Florida for Spain. He arrived in St. Augustine during the Easter season when all the flowers were in bloom so he called the new land La Florida. St. Augustine is the oldest settled colony in the ... read more