The oldest......

Since we were in the oldest city, you have to visit the oldest jail, the oldest wooden school house, the oldest general store and the oldest homes.....don't you?

The Old St. Johns County Jail was built in 1891 and held prisoners until 1953.    Henry Flagler , co-founder of the Standard Oil Company, founder of the Florida East Coast RR and major real estate developer donated $10,000 towards the construction.  He was also a hotel magnet and requested the building to look like a hotel rather than a jail.  It is the oldest surviving government building in St. Johns county and one of the few surviving 19th century jails.    The architecture is Romanesque Revival with Queen Anne Victorian elements.  It was built by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St. Louis.  This same company built Alcatraz     It could house 72 inmates as well as the sheriff and his family.

Conditions were very primitive with 4 inmates to a cell, no indoor plumbing until 1914 and open barred windows which would allow all outside elements and critters to enter.

The tour guides dress up like inmates....

or deputies.

Ron chatting with Joe Perry, the most feared sheriff at that time.    He'll talk to anyone/anything!

Sculpture of a chain gang at the entrance to entice visitors.   The tour included the male and female cells, maximum-security area, the gallows and a large collection of period handcuffs and guns used in actual crimes.


A visit to the St. Augustine oldest general store was interesting    Tour guides dressed and spoke in period character presenting a picture of supplies and services available at that time.

 Warehouse loaded with items from that period.  Displays of typewriters, washing machines and sewing machines.  

Corn Husker

Bread Mixer first presented at the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair and sold for $1.79.

There are many opportunities to visit old homes in this city that are now B&B's, museums or art galleries and we chose to tour the Dow Museum of Historic Houses.   It features 8 historic homes, art galleries, courtyards and gardens that date from 1790-1910.   The houses are embellished with collections of museum benefactor Kenneth Worcester Dow.  

 Murat House.  1790

Carpenter's House, circa 1899-1909.  Built from used left over building materials making the boards and windows mismatched.  The lean is not due to poor construction but from a hurricane and flood in 1940 that undermined the foundation washing away the sand.   Wonder why?....the house was built on a filled lake.

Period furnishings.

Courtyards and gardens were very nicely landscaped and provided a quiet place to sit and take a rest.

This is the site where  the Emancipation Proclamation was officially issued in Florida.   January 1863 all slaveholders were ordered to release their slaves and allow them to gather in a large vacant lot at this location.

Is this blog long enough?   I'll make the next attraction, the oldest wooden school house a quickie.

Juan Genoply moved to St. Augustine from New Smyrna and purchased this red cedar and cypress building as his home in the late 1770's.  He felt it was important for the Minorcan children to learn English.  In the 1800's his daughter became a teacher and began offering classes.

Classroom reproduction.  The Dunce Cap was not used for children who misbehaved but for the slow learners.

The Kitchen.  Not used for a cafeteria as we know but a part of the complex where the teachers did their own cooking.  The students brought their own lunches.

Last attending students.

The Privy.  If it was a 2 unit privy a crescent was carved at the top for the girls unit and a

 sunburst or star for the boys.

"The Grove of Educators", a tribute to several educational leaders from The Americas and The Caribbean.

The End.

Stay tuned for a few more St. Augustine blogs.

Hope all is well!

Nombre de Dios Mission - St. Augustine, FL

We are winding down our time in St. Augustine, FL.  It's a great city with lots of history and lots to see.  We are trying to cram everything into the last couple of weeks.   We didn't do much site-seeing before the holidays.   The city was very crowded and parking at a premium, so we waited until everyone else went back home,  to work and school.   We purchased a trolley tour pass that is suppose to be good for 3 consecutive days and makes 22 stops you can get off and on.  The trolleys stop every 15 minutes so a wait for the next one is never long.   We told them we would be here for 3 weeks and didn't want to kill ourselves trying to see everything in 3 days, so they told us to just get on and off as many times for as long as we were here.   Although they don't advertise this, I imagine they tell alot of people this, which has worked out great for us.

So far we have toured the Castillo De San Marcos National Mounement, the Dow Museum of Homes, Flagler Memorial Presbytarian Church, Fountain of Youth, Lightner Museum, Nombre de Dios Mission, the Old Jail, School and General store, San Sebastian Winery, St. Augustine Historical Museum and strolled St. George Pedestrian Mall with many boutiques, art galleries and restaurants.

Nombre de Dios Mission is where it all began....

St Augustine was founded 43 years before Jamestown and 55 years before Plymouth Rock-making it the oldest continuous European settlement in North America.

The city's history began September 8, 1565 when Pedro Menendez de Aviles landed and knelt at this spot to kiss a wooden cross presented to him by Father Grajales. Thus the  founding of  the town of St. Augustine and Nombre de Dios mission  On that same date, Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales  celebrated the first parish Mass.   The site today is marked by a massive cross, dedicated in 1966, made of stainless steel and rising 208 feet.  The cross weighs 70 tons and consists of 200 stainless steel panels in various sizes.  To secure it from hurricanes the lower interior 65 feet is tightly filled with concrete    The grounds also host the Prince of Peace Church (a votive church dedicated to prayers that God would deliver the world from atomic warfare),  statue of Father Lopez, shrines of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  There is also a Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of La Leche a Rustic Altar, cemetery, museum and areas where archaeological excavations are still taking place today.

Cross as viewed from inside the museum.

 Father Lopez Memorial

Our Lady of Leche Chapel.  This is the 4th building on this foundation.  Erected first by 1615 this shrine fell victim 3 times - to war, pirates and storms.  The last reconstruction began in 1918.  

The mission church is large enough to serve 200 souls.  

Statue of Our Lady of Leche housed in the museum.

  The devotion to our Lady of La Leche honors the divine motherhood of Mary.  

This devotion is  to Mary as patroness of mothers and mothers-to-be.

One shrine along the path of the Seven Sorrows of Mary

 This rustic altar is in memory of the mass of thanksgiving offered here on the day St. Augustine was founded.
 This altar has served pilgrimages, weddings, anniversary celebrations and ordinations to the priesthood.

 Many statues are positioned throughout the grounds.  This one is of the Open Arms of Christ.

 Statue of St. Francis of Assisi 1181-1226.

   Following the civil war, the Sisters of  St Joseph came to teach the liberated slaves. Interred are six members of their congregation.  Since I was taught by Sisters of St. Joseph for 8 years I took an interest in this part of the cemetery.

More of our site-seeing adventures to come.

Hope all is well!

.