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St. Augustine By Nancy and Richard Woodworth Rather like a fine wine, the nation’s oldest city improves with age. The first time our family saw this town that’s almost as much a part of America’s consciousness as Plymouth Rock, it seemed to be one Niagara of tourist attractions after another. One son explored Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum. Another went in search of baseball cards. Their elders wandered amid what seemed to be the relentless honky tonk of the historic area. We couldn’t escape fast enough. That was then. This is now. Since the early 1970s, this city that seems bigger than its 15,000 population would suggest has capitalized on a readymade audience and spruced up its act. It’s now one of our favorite places, an exotic bit of old Europe transplanted to the sub-tropics. Not for naught did Florida empire-builder Henry M. Flagler envision St. Augustine as the start of America’s Riviera. Co-founder with John D. Rockefeller of the Standard Oil Co., he erected fabulous Spanish Revival hotels and churches and built a railroad to bring turn-of-the-century tourists from New York to “the Newport of the South.” Flagler’s success inadvertently did him and St. Augustine in. As he built more railroads and more hotels farther south, travelers left St. Augustine in the lurch. A century after St. Augustine’s gilded age, this city that spans five centuries of history is on the rebound. Some 28 inns and bed and breakfasts have opened in the last decade or so in the historic district. One of the original hotels was reborn in 1999 as the luxury Casa Monica Hotel. Nine historic properties were restored for opening in Old St. Augustine Village. The new World Golf Village, with a Golf Hall of Fame, resort hotel and convention center, catches the traveler’s eye along I-95 at the northern exit for St. Augustine. St. Augustine – the oldest, continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States – was founded in 1565, 42 years before the English colonized Jamestown and 55 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. St. Augustine has always laid valid claims to the oldest: the oldest fortification, the oldest house, the oldest wooden schoolhouse, the oldest mission – even, less reliably, the oldest drug store (with a new Cyber Cafe beside) and the oldest live oak (surrounded by a Howard Johnson Express motel). There are 85 historic sites and attractions, many of them with a commercial hand out. Visiting each of the top twenty would cost more than $100, although family rates lessen the pain on the pocketbook for some. A number of attractions and experiences, many of them associated with the Flagler vision, are first-rate. Add the enticements of the nearby oceanfront, and the catchy local ad campaign – “72 miles of beaches – and the rest is history” – captures tourists of many persuasions. St. Augustine harbors all kinds of treasures, and not all of them cost money. The historic district along the bayfront is relatively compact and made for walking. Much of the architecture is Spanish, the ambiance European, the courtyards and back alleys Mediterranean. The historian is in his element. The photographer has a field day. The browser encounters something different at every turn. As darkness falls, church bells toll and vehicles give way to the clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages. Staying at a B&B in the Old City heightens the St. Augustine experience. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in the Southeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2000. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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