Haunted Inns, Pubs and Eateries of St. Augustine by Greg Jenkins PhD

Author:Greg Jenkins PhD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

I NTRODUCTION

ST. AUGUSTINE

A N A NCIENT C ITY OF D REAMS

When Americans think of old cities and townships in the United States, they most likely think of Philadelphia or Boston to be among the oldest. Yet St. Augustine, Florida, was the first city to be settled in America, already having been close to sixty years old when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. In fact, as legend tells us, when Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sailed the shores of Florida in 1513, he noticed an abundance of colorful flowers draping across the shores and tree lines. This thoroughly amazed the explorer, and because his discovery occurred during the Spanish Easter Feast Day, he was inspired to call this beautiful land La Pascua de la Florida, translating to “Passion of the Flowers.” By 1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles had become the first governor of this new land, and he christened it San Agustin after his patron saint.

During this time, the French Protestant Huguenots were massing in the northern sections of San Agustin, on the St. Johns River. As soon as Menendez got word of this, he sent his troops to the river and destroyed the French garrison; at the time, a massive hurricane wiped out the French fleet as it approached Florida’s coast. As Spain was assured that San Agustin was its to claim, it began work building the town, establishing Catholic missions for converting the natives and setting forth in the exploration of this new land.

By 1586, the English were quickly usurping the land for the glory of Queen Elizabeth I, sending the famous Corsair captain Sir Francis Drake to sack the Spanish and burn the town to the ground. From there, many other pirates and privateers attacked Florida’s northern coast. In 1668, pirate captain John Davis, alias Robert Searles, plundered the town and burned a good portion of it, killing many of its citizens and ransacking the church and town coffers. It was a time of siege and glory, and St. Augustine existed at the apex of piracy’s golden age.

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