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St Augustine, Florida The oldest European constructed permanent settlement in the United States. This is a great city is loaded with history. There has been an obvious effort to preserve the charm and you will find horse drawn trolleys traveling the cobblestone roads running between structures that reflect the trials of the ages. Be sure to visit Castillo De San Marcos and Fort Matanzas two old forts which were constructed for the protection of the city. This is a place where you will want to spend a whole day or possibly more.
Some History: It was originally built by the Spanish to counter the French built Fort at St. Johns River. The French presented a threat to the shipment of treasure that passed not far off the Florida shore on their way back to Spain. The Spanish had laid Claim to Florida when it was discovered on Easter, March 27, 1513, by the Spanish explorer and treasure hunter Don Juan Ponce de Leon. He named it La Florida, meaning "Land of Flowers". Spain launched six expeditions to settle Florida, but all failed until Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Spain's most experienced admiral, and governor of Florida, was instructing him to explore and to colonize the territory and also instructed to drive out any pirates or settlers from other nation.. Utilizing brilliant military maneuvers, Menendez destroyed the French garrison on the St. Johns River and, with the help of a hurricane, also defeated the French fleet. With the coast of Florida firmly in Spanish hands, he then set to work building the town, establishing missions to the Indians for the Church, and exploring the land. The construction of St Augustine was forty-two years before the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, and fifty-five years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. The mainland of the North American continent was first sighted He claimed the land for Spain and Between 1513 and 1563 the government of . the French succeeded in establishing a fort and colony on the St. Johns River in 1564 and, in doing so, threatened Spain's treasure fleets which sailed along Florida's shoreline returning to Spain. As a result of this incursion into Florida, King Phillip II named. Menendez arrived off the coast of Florida on August 28, 1565, the Feast Day of St. Augustine. Eleven days later, he and his 600 soldiers and settlers came ashore at the site of the Timucuan Indian village of Seloy. He hastily fortified the village and named it St. Augustine. The British established colonies in Georgia and the Carolinas forcing Spain to authorized the building of a stone fort to protect St. Augustine as assaults from the north became more frequent. Life in St. Augustine was any thing but easy. Not only did they have to do without the luxury item that were left behind but the constantly had to fend of attacks by pirate and the navies of rival countries. In 1586, English corsair Sir Francis Drake attacked and burned the town. Then in 1668, the pirate Captain John Davis plundered the town, killing sixty inhabitants. The city remained a Spanish possession until1763 when Spain ceded Florida to England in order to regain the capital of Cuba, ushering in twenty years of British rule in Florida. This period coincided with the American Revolution, during which Florida remained loyal to the Crown. In 1783, under the Treaty of Paris, Florida was returned to Spanish rule for a period of thirty-seven years. The Spanish departed for the last time when Spain sold Florida to the United States of America. At a colorful military ceremony on July 10, 1821, US troops took possession of the territory. St. Augustine suffered a series of setbacks. In 1821, a yellow fever epidemic brought death to many newcomers. Also, uprisings by the Seminole Indians culminated in the Seminole War of 1836  See Ripley's Believe it or Not , |
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