St. Augustine
I arrived in St. Augustine about an hour after I left Daytona…it’s only a 60 mile drive, and I was instantly impressed with the layout of the city. I learned that St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States as it was originally settled by Spain, and this sparked my interest and gave me proper justification for stopping in what seemed like a random city in the U.S. As I entered the city, or the historic section of the city that was separated from the greater St. Augustine area by a bridge and water, I was instantly impressed with the city. I wasn’t overwhelmed as one may feel when they first enter New York City, London or Paris, but still slightly impressed with this city that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. After Daytona, St. Augustine seemed to have a certain charm to it that I feel is lost in lots of the larger cities like Chicago, and which doesn’t exist in lots of smaller and more remote cities, like Clarksdale, MI.
I found a place to park my car and was able to avoid any parking meters because they weren’t working on the weekend, and immediately set out to discover this “ancient” American city. It took me a few minutes before arriving in the “heart” of St. Augustine where I saw a large church with a tall spire, a green square besides it, and across the street a large red building that was either a museum or a school…I think it was the Lightner Museum..regardless I couldn’t enter because I was too late, nor did I care to pay for the admission ticket. I left the Museum entrance and made my way towards St. George Street, the “happening” street of the city. This pedestrian street was brick-paved, as was much of the city, and along both sides of the street were endless opportunities to shop. This was both refreshing and somewhat disappointing to me, since I felt the comfort of being in the States as well as that strange comfort one gets when walking around an affluent area, but I preferred the more traditional St. Augustine.
The shopping street had a few notable buildings including the “oldest Wooden School House” and something else, but this didn’t really excite me as I made my way towards the country’s oldest masonry fort, the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. The one thing that is all over St. Augustine is how they have all the “oldest” buildings. It would make sense since it’s the oldest continuous European settlement in the United States, but they do a really good job of reminding their tourists that every building in the town is really old. I walked around the fort and made my way back towards downtown, but decided to walk along the water this time around. I read in my guidebook that I should see the Bridge of Lions that doesn’t seem to have left that strong of an impression on my memory, as I made my way towards the country’s “Oldest House.” I got down to the house and wasn’t really sure which one it was since none of the houses on the street adjacent to the military base seemed that decrepit, however, after a few minutes of wandering I stumbled upon a large sign advertising that this was “the country’s oldest house.” I laughed at the thought of paying an entrance fee and made my way back towards downtown and to my car. I called my aunt letting her know my 3 hour excursion to St. Augustine had reached its end and I was heading to her place in Jacksonville and to expect me in an hour or so.
St. Augustine was definitely an interesting place to see after not really stopping by a tourist area in a few days, but it was only good for a few hours at most and I’d imagine that if I stayed any longer I probably would’ve gone insane or just gotten really bored.
Tags: Summer 2007 Road Trip, Travel
