Walking in Old Towne

November 27-December 5, 2024                                       Most Recent Posts:
St Augustine Florida                                                       Anastasia State Park
                                                                                             Fernandina Beach Florida

It’s been longer than I intended since  my last post.  A lot has happened. But before a posting on why the delay, I want to finish from St. Augustine in November.  About time since it is almost Christmas.

My previous post was all about staying at Anastasia State Park and the things to visit within walking distance.  You can find a link to that under “Most Recent Posts”.  I neglected to include this photo of a fellow park resident, the gopher tortoise.   He’s just magnificent isn’t he and I did not want to neglect to showcase him.

Be prepared.  Parking in and around St. Augustine for the day is an expensive proposition as you can see.  One of the advantages of returning to favorite places is that you get to know them and how to get around.

I’m a walker and over time I’ve discovered a few secret side streets that are do not have hourly meters or require a city parking tag.   Believe me there are not many and you must be willing to walk.  So today I parked and hiked through the Old City Gate into St. Augustine. 

The gate was constructed in 1808 out of coquina and was part of the final reconstruction of the city walls. The history of the gate goes back even further, to 1702 when the city was attacked by Carolinian Governor James Moore and his troops. After this attack, the city began building a fortification around itself, including the northern protective border known as the “Cubo Line”. The Cubo Line was mostly made of earthworks, but also included a moat, a cannon, and a wooden gate. The gate that stands today replaced earlier the entryways made of wood

Many of the buildings in the old town are several hundred years old.

There is, of course, a sight seeing tour where you can learn a great deal about the city and its history.  They were just going around behind the gate when I walked through.

Through the city gate you walk down St. George Street which dates to the city’s founding in 1565. It’s the heart of the old town with many original buildings turned into commercial establishments.

The oldest structure on the street is the 322 year old school house.

One  of the most unusual sites on St George Street to which I return each time I walk down it is the St. Photios National Shrine.  

This first national shrine of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese is located in the Avero House.  It is dedicated not only to the memory of the first Greek Orthodox pioneers who arrived in the New World in 1768.  They were known as Minorcans.  They arrived in St. Augustine as indentured servants with Andrew Turnbull. The colony failed, and only a third of the colonists survived to return to St. Augustine in 1777 as refugees from the New Smyrna Colony.  It’s a fairly gruesome story.  The shrine is also dedicated to all the following generations of immigrants who came to this New World seeking freedom, justice, and a better life for themselves and their children.

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The shrine is a wonderful  quiet oasis in the midst of a busy tourist area.   I can feel myself relax when I step through the small entry way on the building’s right side into this beautiful courtyard.

Inside the mosaics and art work are magnificent.

The passageway through the several rooms of the Shrine reveals exhibits and galleries. At the end of the passageway is the Shrine’s serenely beautiful Saint Photios Chapel. Here, you are surrounded by magnificent Byzantine sacred icons on its walls and above in five domes.

Back outside, St George Street is somewhat of a shock.  Notice the 2nd story balcony here.

St Augustine has a long history with pirates.   The city was a key port town in the new world and  was continually a target for buccaneers in search of riches to plunder and townspeople to torment.  The Spanish built the fort Castillo de San Marcos between 1672 and 1695 to protect the city from pirates  including  Sir Frances Drake in 1586

In addition to revisiting favorite spots in the town, I try each visit to seek out something new.  This time I visited The Governor’s House. 

This historic site has served the city of St. Augustine since 1598. It served as the administrative headquarters and residences for colonial governors appointed by Spain, then Britain, and then Spain again. In 1821 when Spain ceded Florida to the U.S., the Government House building was used as a courthouse and briefly as the Capitol building of the new Territory of Florida. Since it was purchased by the University of Florida several years ago, it is called the Governor's House Cultural Center and Museum.

Parts of the current building's coquina walls and windows are believed to date back to St. Augustine's first Spanish colonial period

Today in the exhibit room was a showing of oil paintings done in and of St Augustine in the 19th and early 20th century.   There were many more than shown here and I spent the mid afternoon admiring the art and recognizing the locations.

Anastasia Island where Fort Clinch is located.  Frank Henry Shapleigh 1892.  How things have changed. 

Old  Gateway of St Augustine     Samuel Freeman Pratt 2874

Anastasia Island Lighthouse Laura Woodward 1892

Once back outside I headed to Aviles Street which historians of St. Augustine say  is the oldest street in the nation.  Not sure the folks in Plymouth Massachusetts would agree but archaeologists digging several layers under the brick paving recently discovered pottery shards from the early 1600s.   Aviles was known as Hospital Street because it was the location of the second Spanish Military Hospital.  A museum about it occupies that building today.  I did not visit.

It’s a wonderful narrow street with its homes and shops right on the street as is fairly common in the old part of the city though not all the streets are this narrow.

Here, in the far distance you can see the towers of The Bridge of Lions a double-leaf bascule bridge that crosses Matanzas Bay (the intercoastal waterway), connecting downtown St. Augustine to Anastasia Island. The bridge is a major thoroughfare in St. Augustine and is part of State Road A1A. It's a popular attraction for visitors and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  I didn’t get a picture this time of the name sake Lions which stand at the foot of this draw bridge.  Notice the Pirate ship in the foreground.

You can take a sail on this pirate ship for the right price.  Comes complete with pirates.

The bridge, the boats and the entire city are festooned with lights from mid November until mid January every year.  Known as the Nights of Lights, it is quite a sight.  I visited it last year with my friends Mary and Pete.  You can find that post here.

On my way back to the car before it got dark I felt I needed some fortitude for my last steps of the day so I stopped here,  former hippy that I am.

If this doesn’t make you smile, nothing will.

Mini donuts of every kind imaginable.  It would take months to sample all the ones I wanted.

I finally decided it was a coconut day and had a samoa and a coconut.  They were fresh, warm and delicious.

I left Anastasia on December 5th and moved to Blue Spring State Park where it turned out to be cold enough for 678 manatee to take refuge in the spring run on day.  That’s for next time.