St. Augustine

St Augustine

The oldest City in America

By: Colin VandenBrink

Castillo de San Marcos Built 1672 Drawing by Colin Vandenbrink

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Discovering St. Augustine: The Spanish have Landed.

The Fortification of St. Augustine: If you Build it we will burn it!

Map of Florida- Map it! Map it real good!

St. Augustine House of Horrors: Who's house is it now?

80. Today the Fountain of Youth Archeological Site is located on what was believed to be the original location that Ponce De Leon landed.

Discovering St Augustine

St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States. The First person to discover St Augustine was Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. He claimed the area for the Spanish throne in 1513. When St Augustine was discovered there were already people living there. The Natives were called the Timucua. The Timucua were believed to have lived in the St Augustine area for 2000 years before the Spanish discovered it. The Timucua had survived

in this area of Florida by hunting and by planting some of their food. They also ate fish clams and oysters. They built permanent houses and villages. The men of the village were responsible for the hunting and the women did the cooking and caring for the children. The Tribes of the Timucua welcomed the European explorers and many believe that the first thanksgiving took place with the Spanish and the Timucua on the shores of St Augustine. When Ponce de Leon first encountered the Timucua he was in search of the magical island of Biminis. instead he found Florida he believed that the Natives had a Fountain of Youth that they drank from. The average age for a Spanish was between 40 and 50 years old however the Native Timucua were living to an average age of

Timucua Huts

The Fountain of youth is now a popular tourist attraction that helps to educate people about the Timucua and the settlement of St Augustine by the Spanish. Unfortunately for the Timucua they did not have any resistance to European diseases and their numbers were wiped out by smallpox and wars.

The Fortification of St Augustine

The first permanent settlement of St Augustine wasn't built until Sept 8, 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. He named the city after the patron saint of his home town. The Spanish built nine wood forts. Each fort was burned to the ground during attacks. A famous attach lead by Sir Francis Drake in 1586 drove Spanish settlers into the wilderness while he burned yet another wood fort to the ground.

Castillo de san Marco

Cannon on the deck of Castillo de san Marco

Map depicting Sir Francis Drake's 1586 attack on St Augustine.

Without the resource required to hold the city the Spanish recaptured St. Augustine. After yet another attack by privateers, aka pirates the Spanish finally built a stone Fort, the Castillo de San Marcos. The Fort was constructed out of coquina, which is made out of small shells and sand. This fabulous material can deflect cannon balls and if it does not deflect it will absorb the cannon fire. The Castillo de San Marcos never fell in Battle and is still intact today. The Fort flew under 4 Flags. The Spanish, The English, The Spanish again then finally it flew under the US Flag.

FUN PICS FROM ST. AUGUSTINE 2015

St AGUSTINE

House of Horrors

House of Horror St Augustine promises you a thrilling night for you and your entire family. We dare you to visit the only haunted house in St Augustine that tells you all the gory details about St Augustine. From the exploding Bishop to Pirates like Sir Francis Drake, we have them all for your horrific pleasure.