St. Augustine

As I am sure I have mentioned numerous times before, our book club is studying Florida History.  One of the field trips we decided to take as a group was to the oldest city in the United States, St. Augustine.  Our family has been there a number of times.  But, I will have to admit, that after reading quite a few books on the history of our state and this city, it made the a whole trip a new experience!

We have read a couple of historical fiction books about the area but also a couple of factual books about the city and surrounding areas as well.  It really brought the sites and architecture and the whole city to life.  

Flagler College.  More about that later.

The Castillo de San Marcos.

The Discovery Cross.

Shooting the canon of the fort.

The view from atop the Castillo.

In one of the historical fiction books we read, it told about the time the Spanish town inhabitants of St. Augustine had to stay in the Castillo while their soldiers fought the British.  Hundreds of people had to stay in the courtyard of the fort for many weeks.  In the story, a canon misfired and hurt the main character's father (if I remember correctly).  Anyway, Boop found this misfired cannon and was certain it was from the event in our book.

The courtyard where towns people would stay during war time.  Osceola stayed in the fort briefly.

Lunch in the park.

An old church across the street.  Its windows were Tiffany glass.

The architecture was phenomenal.

The old Ponce de Leon Hotel built by Henry Flagler is now the home of Flagler College.

Statue of Henry Flagler.  He spent much of his time and money developing Florida.  We read a great book called The Two Henrys about Flagler and Plant!

As you can see from the pictures, the campus is small but beautiful.  The kids want to go to college there!  I can't say I blame them.

Henry Flagler built the above church in memory of his daughter who died.  He and many other family members are buried there.  I can't even imagine attending a Sunday service there.  It is just so beautiful.

We had a great day with friends and I think learned just a little bit more about our state history.  What a neat experience to go to a familiar place with a little bit different perspective. . . .