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Published: January 2nd 2007
Ready, Aim, Fire!
The Spanish firing drill of the cannons at Castillo de San Marcos.One of our many stops on our trek south was St. Augustine, the oldest city in America. It was founded in 1513 by Juan Ponce de Leon, who believed he found the fountain of youth here. It was later colonized by the Spanish in 1565 and became a strategic sea and land base for the Spanish Empire, as it was located on the Gulf Stream straight from the Caribbean Islands to Europe. By controlling this trade route, the Spanish were able to safely bring gold and silver bullion as well as agricultural wealth from the New World to Europe. This historic port town has survived invasions, famines, fires, floods, and hurricanes but still has many of the original structures standing.
The most important structure that remains is the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest fort in America. It is one of the best preserved Spanish colonial forts in America, made of coquina, a sedimentary rock collected in the shallow waters surrounding St. Augustine. Coquina proved to be a great building material and the main reason why the fort stands today. When cannon balls were fired onto the fort from the French or the British, the coquina would absorb the shock
and the structural integrity of the fort would stay in tact. In fact, Castillo de San Marcos has never been overtaken in its 300 year history. It has, however, switched ownership 5 times throughout history by various treaties. It is an amazing structure and was fun to explore and learn a bit of history. While we were there, we watched a re-enactment of the Spanish firing drill. Apparently the Spanish Army practiced firing the cannons daily while occupying the fort, which gave them deadly aim and accuracy. Very cool!
Walking through this town was like walking through history. The main street thru town is closed to cars, and has a mix of shops and historical landmarks (like America’s first school, America’s oldest pub and boarding house, as well as America’s oldest and first pharmacy). It is a great place to explore with lots of beautiful architecture. One major contributor to the city’s architecture is Henry Flagler, the co-founder of the Standard Oil Company (partner and long time friend of Rockefeller). Flagler was responsible for much development on the Eastern Seaboard, including the railroad from Manhattan to Key West as well as many famous hotels, including the Ponce de Leon
Castillo de San Marcos
The drawbridge and main gate to the fort. Hotel in St. Augustine, the Breakers in Palm Beach, and the Royal Palm Hotel in Miami. The result is that most of the architecture in St. Augustine, from churches to universities, is of the Spanish Renaissance Revival style that Flaggler used. The effect is breathtaking. In fact, one of Flagler’s friends was Louis Tiffany (Tiffany’s of New york), who was often commissioned to do stained glass in his buildings. The Flaggler College (previously the Ponce de Leon Hotel) has 79 Tiffany stain-glass windows throughout the building, including the largest Tiffany Stained glass window in the Grand Parlor (protected by bullet-proof glass) which is estimated to be worth 20 million dollars. As we strolled thru town, admiring the architecture and Tiffany stained glass windows everywhere, we were amazed.
One day, we decided to take a break from the history and beautiful architecture and visit the alligator farm. We figured, “Hey, when in Florida, do as the Floridians and wrestle some alligators.” No, no- we didn’t actually wrestle any alligators, but we sure did have fun at the farm. There are literally hundreds of different types of alligators, some as tiny as a shoe-box and others as big as a Toyota.
Castillo de San Marcos
The fort walls, overlooking the St. Augustine inlet. Some are albino white while others camouflage into their surroundings. They really are amazing animals, with such powerful jaws and a smile you just can’t trust. We spent most of our time there feeding the alligators. It was so fun to watch them slink up to their food and then snap! Eat it in one bite. And we also loved feeding 50 alligators at one time, watching them crawl all over each other just to get a nibble. Afterwards, we had more respect for these powerful critters and hope that we never run into one in the wild.
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