San Sebastian Winery- St. Augustine, Fl

So it has been a while since I updated and I apologize for that but I have been working a lot.

My last post on St. Augustine will be about a wine tasting. Just outside the historic district is a distillery. It is free for a tour and wine tasting, given that you are of age, of course. They had periodic tours and a movie about the distilling process is first shown and then a mini tour of the location with the final stop being the tasting. We tasted about 10 different wines, port and sherry. I can see why it is a free tour because after the tasting you want to buy at least half the flavours. My mom and I ended up buying 2 bottles of port, a sherry and a red wine. All were the most delicious of all the samples.

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St. Augustine - Fountain of Youth Part1

No trip to St. Augustine is complete without a visit to the Fountain of Youth. One of the main reasons Ponce de Leon first came to Florida, to search for this legendary spring that has been recounted in many legends for thousands of years. I first visited the site when I was 14, and I drank a cup of the 'miraculous' spring waters.  I no longer look adolescent -Thank the Lord - it is safe to say that the mythical Fountain of Youth is still undiscovered.

Anyways, the site is where the Spanish first landed in Florida, and where they came in contact with the Timucuan tribe. The site has been subject to archaeological excavations, these excavations found positive evidence that the park is the location of the 1565 Spanish settlement -St. Augustine. The Europeans came to find the fabled Fountain of Youth, and they never left. 

Peacocks roam free in these lands.

A look into the past

The excavations artifacts

Inside that little cup was a parchment written in Old Spanish. This is a photograph of said parchment. It says: "Sepase por esto que yo, Alonzo Soriano, vecino y residente del Brillar subscribo y certifico que estuve presente al principio de la fundacion, la cual es la religion, y es con la salida y la puesta del Sol. Por orden de la Real Corona de Aragon hizo su descripcion al Manantial el cual es bueno y dulce al gusto. Era en el ano 1513"

The 'miraculous' spring- it was salty. The the employee said something about sulfur. I am not too sure anymore. I wrote it down but cannot find that paper. 

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St. Augustine, Fl: Our Lady de La Leche at El Nombre de Dios Mission

There is no charge to visit this site but you can leave a donation. It is a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary and this site is the birthplace of Christianity in the New World. The location of the shrine is known as 'the sacred acre'. Many expectant and hopeful mothers make the pilgrimage to this site to ask for the blessings of Mother Mary to conceive or to bless their unborn child. A prominent feature is the Great Cross that was erected to proclaim that this site is indeed where Christianity came to the New World; there is portion on site where there is a rustic altar built to show where the first mass in the New World took place (according to archaeological finds). On site there is also devotional statues to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and the Stations of the Cross.

The Great Cross

This is a memorial dedicates to Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales (what a mouthful). He was the chaplain on Pedro Menendez's expedition and the founding pastor of the St. Augustine parish. He celebrated the first Mass in this new colony on September 8, 1565. (A paraphrasing of the sign on the left.)

One of the many shrines on site

The sign says: 

"Following the civil war, the Sisters of St. Joseph came to St. Augustine to teach the liberated slaves. Interred in this holy ground are 6 members of their congregation".

The chapel to Our Lady de La Leche

The Rustic Altar where the first mass was held

The believed remains of a religious monument dates to the mid-1800's. Was discovered in 2009

The coffin of Menendez

What a strapping lad this Menendez was back in the day.

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Castillo de San Marcos- St. Augustine, Fl- Part 1

     Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the U.S, located on Matanzas Bay in St. Augustine,Fl. Construction began in 1672 and continued until its completion in 1695, at this time Florida was still part of the Spanish Empire. One can assume the placement of the fort at bay was strategic. The bay has a mouth leading out to sea and the fort is placed at a spot in the bay where men could see for miles around to ensure the city was protected. 

     About 80 years after its completion the British took over and renamed the fort St.Mark (mostly because they lacked imagination). Not to worry in 1783 the Spanish gained Florida back, but just as soon as they gained it back they have it away to the U.S in 1821.  Despite being a military fort it was only besieged twice in its history and all the change in possession were made in times of peace. When the fort was in possession by the U.S it was used as a military prison to imprison members of various Native American tribes, the first being the Seminole. 

The sleeping quarters. 

It even has its own fireplace! It can get cold in Florida (trust me). Located right next to the dungeon.

Set of buildings that contain officers sleeping quarters, chapel and mess hall.

Spanish crest

The Chapel!

The Sacristy!

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St. Augustine, Fl, USA- Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse Pt 2

As mentioned previously the schoolhouse is the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the U.S and has stood since the early 1700's but the last class graduated in 1865. The compound contains the schoolhouse, a kitchen, an outhouse, several statues commemorating important figures in Latin American history, and a well. It is important to note that the teachers would live with their family in the second story of the schoolhouse. The kitchen was separate to ensure both ventilation and that if there was a fire it would be easily contained.

Okay moving on to the best part! The pictures!

Peruvian Liberator!

Honduras!

I tried to get a picture of the whole compound

The last class of the schoolhouse in 1864!

That girl in the purple looks like Wednesday Addams

Furniture the teacher owned or may have owned.

If you behaved badly you were sent to the cupboard beneath the stairs. Made me think of Harry Potter.

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St. Augustine, Fl- The Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse Pt 1

As the name would suggest the Schoolhouse is the oldest wooden school building in the U.S but not the oldest school building, I presume the oldest is made from stone or brick. It is located on St. George St near the old City Gate. The Schoolhouse was built sometime after 1702 because that was the year the British burned all the wooden structures in the city to the ground. Its date of construction therefore is unknown but its first appearance in tax records was in 1716. With that being said it was built sometime within that 14  year time span.
Florida is well known for hurricane season so the structures within the area are anchored down to ensure that it isn't blown away when a hurricane does come to call. It has been restored numerous times over the l 300 or so years and this has ensured its survival.

The complex contains the actual schoolhouse, a kitchen, an outhouse, several statues commemorating men who helped build the city.

View from the main street

That's a mannequin

The kitchen

The well

Meditation room aka the necessary aka the outhouse

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