\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAs we celebrate America’s 250th birthday this week, a city in Florida is much older. St. Augustine was first discovered more than 350 years ago, but it has helped define the United States. Amongst the hustle of downtown St. Augustine sits one of the country’s oldest and most unique forts, the Castillo de San Marcos. The star-shaped masonry fort was founded by the Spanish in 1672 and is made of shell or “coquina.””It’s almost like bubble wrap. When a cannonball hits it, it just bounces off,” explained John Stavely with The Colonia Quarter and Pirate Museum, which educates visitors on the history of the city. Across the road from the fort is St. George Street, lined with shops and homes built by the Spanish. Families of soldiers lived there. The Spanish occupied the area until the 1760s when the British came in. While we are not part of the 13 original colonies, Stavely said, “We weren’t official here in Florida, but we were the 14th and 15th, if you think of East and West British Florida.” When the original 13 separated in the American Revolution, St. Augustine remained loyal to the crown. Beginning of St. AugustineSpanish explorer Ponce de Leon first discovered America in 1513, landing on what is now the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. While the fable is that the explorer was looking for the Fountain of Youth, it was actually new land. The land happened to have mineral water that’s been named the Fountain of Youth and has kept visitors coming back. “The park was a botanical garden started by an English botanist by the last name of Williams, and he had a well here that he sold water for a small price, like a nickel,” said park anthropologist Chad Light. As you tour the park, you are also walking on land still occupied by the remains of the Timucuan, who were the first on the land. There are active archaeological digs on the property that have produced bones and various artifacts. “We found pre-Columbian \u2014 which is pre-Columbus \u2014 Native American burials that were unknown even in the time of the Spanish,” said Light. Once dug up, Light said they would photograph the remains and cover them again. The recreated buildings do not penetrate the ground out of respect. Another interesting feature on the 15-acre property is the more than 100 peacocks that strut around, first brought to the area in the 1800s. Fort MoseAnother important part of St. Augustine’s history is Fort Mose, which was established in 1738 as the first free African American settlement in the United States. Today, you can walk the grounds where a recreated fort stands on the national park site. In order to stay, the Spanish required the African Americans to become Catholic and helped defend the town. They created the Black Militia. “In 1740, there was a major British attack from the north, and Fort Mose was the first line of defense, and they fought ferociously. They allowed the rest of the townspeople to get inside the fort, then they followed, and everybody was safe from that first attack,” said Stavely. From a fort built ahead of its time to groundbreaking firsts that helped define a nation, St. Augustine tells the story of America.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday this week, a city in Florida is much older. <\/p>\n
St. Augustine was first discovered more than 350 years ago, but it has helped define the United States. <\/p>\n
Amongst the hustle of downtown St. Augustine sits one of the country’s oldest and most unique forts, the Castillo de San Marcos. The star-shaped masonry fort was founded by the Spanish in 1672 and is made of shell or “coquina.”<\/p>\n
“It’s almost like bubble wrap. When a cannonball hits it, it just bounces off,” explained John Stavely with The Colonia Quarter and Pirate Museum, which educates visitors on the history of the city. <\/p>\n
Across the road from the fort is St. George Street, lined with shops and homes built by the Spanish. Families of soldiers lived there. The Spanish occupied the area until the 1760s when the British came in. <\/p>\n
While we are not part of the 13 original colonies, Stavely said, “We weren’t official here in Florida, but we were the 14th and 15th, if you think of East and West British Florida.” <\/p>\n
When the original 13 separated in the American Revolution, St. Augustine remained loyal to the crown. <\/p>\n
Beginning of St. Augustine<\/p>\n
Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon first discovered America in 1513, landing on what is now the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. While the fable is that the explorer was looking for the Fountain of Youth, it was actually new land. The land happened to have mineral water that’s been named the Fountain of Youth and has kept visitors coming back. <\/p>\n
“The park was a botanical garden started by an English botanist by the last name of Williams, and he had a well here that he sold water for a small price, like a nickel,” said park anthropologist Chad Light. <\/p>\n
As you tour the park, you are also walking on land still occupied by the remains of the Timucuan, who were the first on the land. There are active archaeological digs on the property that have produced bones and various artifacts. <\/p>\n
“We found pre-Columbian \u2014 which is pre-Columbus \u2014 Native American burials that were unknown even in the time of the Spanish,” said Light. <\/p>\n
Once dug up, Light said they would photograph the remains and cover them again. The recreated buildings do not penetrate the ground out of respect. Another interesting feature on the 15-acre property is the more than 100 peacocks that strut around, first brought to the area in the 1800s. <\/p>\n
Fort Mose<\/p>\n
Another important part of St. Augustine’s history is Fort Mose, which was established in 1738 as the first free African American settlement in the United States. <\/p>\n
Today, you can walk the grounds where a recreated fort stands on the national park site. In order to stay, the Spanish required the African Americans to become Catholic and helped defend the town. They created the Black Militia. <\/p>\n
“In 1740, there was a major British attack from the north, and Fort Mose was the first line of defense, and they fought ferociously. They allowed the rest of the townspeople to get inside the fort, then they followed, and everybody was safe from that first attack,” said Stavely. <\/p>\n
From a fort built ahead of its time to groundbreaking firsts that helped define a nation, St. Augustine tells the story of America. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday this week, a city in Florida is much older. St. Augustine was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3017,2954,28,21695,30,29,258,67981,2457,134504,713,134505,63525,481,45867,2663,19436,9889],"class_list":["post-325243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-america","tag-area","tag-florida","tag-florida-city","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fort","tag-fountain","tag-history","tag-john-stavely","tag-light","tag-mineral-water","tag-new-land","tag-property","tag-spanish","tag-st-augustine","tag-visitor","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}