Photos by Bonnie

St. Augustine, FL

Walk Around Town

On our walk around town;
I learned that Florida became The Sunshine State in 1845 and was appropriately named after flowers.
The state of Florida has been slowly eroding and the peninsula becoming more pronounced.
Henry Flagler, a multi-millionaire, transformed St. Augustine into the American Riviera by building resort hotels and the Florida East Coast Railway.
St. Augustine is a modern city with a proud past.

Me and the Oldest House.
The Gonz‡lez-Alvarez House is the oldest surviving Spanish Colonial dwelling in Florida. The site has been occupied since the 1600s and the present house dates to the early 1700s. Since 1893 visitors have toured the house to see evidence of the Spanish, British and American occupations of St. Augustine and to learn how the residents lived. In 1970 the U.S. Department of the Interior designated the house a National Historic Landmark.

Close-up.

Wouldn't be Florida, if we didn't encounter a little afternoon rain.

A Peahen and her Peachick.
I asked, this is what they are really called. Makes sense since the Dad is the Peacock.

Here he is, a wondering in the grass after the rain.

Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse.
Located near the City Gates, The Old School House is a surviving expression of another time. Built over 200 years ago, while Florida was under the rule of Imperial Spain, it was constructed of red cedar and cypress and put together with wooden pegs and handmade nails.

The schoolmaster and his wife lived upstairs, above the small classroom. Their kitchen was separated from the main building, because of the threat of fire and to spare the house of any excess heat during the long summers.

Gina and the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse.