History of St. Augustine

Being a historic preservation major in the charming city of Charleston has begun to train my eye to note the historical efforts and failures of other colonial tourist traps along the east coast, in this case: St. Augustine, Florida. I have traveled there before, but never with the intention to really understand this city. Understanding a city, its motives, its beginnings and its residents, I have discovered, is not the easiest of tasks. St. Augustine is a cute, funky, very Florida town. It is straddling a tropically cosmopolitan quaintness and being a stop on the way to Daytona. I stayed in a Ramada across the street from the landing site of Ponce de Leon. Located in between a park claiming to have the fountain of youth that legend claims Leon sought after, and “Ripley’s Believe It or Not”, it is a convenient stop to be educated. At the Ripley’s they had a cabin made from a hollowed California redwood; I felt as if I had entered an endangered Airstream trailer. I have never fel...