St. Augustine, FL

A City of Firsts

As anyone living in a well-traveled area knows, out-of-town visitors can be a mixed blessing—giving a town additional business and congestion in equal measure. This irony is not lost on Jay Humphreys, director of communications for the St. Johns County Visitors & Convention Bureau in St. Augustine, Fla.

Though it’s his job to promote St. Augustine—the nation’s first permanent settlement—he admits it’s sometimes frustrating when the car in front of him slows by historic monuments, or a thicket of picture-takers blocks his pathway home. But one day he made peace with the paradox.

“I was driving over the Bridge of Lions and the sun was coming up over the water and everything looked very Mediterranean,” he recalls. “I realized I should be glad to live in a place that’s so beautiful people want to take pictures of it.”

Historically, people have come to St. Augustine (pop. 11,592) for much less benign reasons. As a Spanish military outpost beginning in 1565, the town attracted English pirates who burned and pillaged the town repeatedly. After being forced to make numerous fresh starts, locals finally erected a stone fortress in 1672. The castle-like Castillo de San Marcos, with its turrets and battlements, resisted invaders and continues to dominate the shore of Matanzas Bay.

However, most other buildings from the period were lost to exploits or the passage of time. The 23 Colonial structures that remain are cherished—by citizens and tourists alike.

“St. Augustine realized earlier than most places that it was the old buildings that people came to your town to see,” says Charles Tingley, manager of the St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library.

It’s a symbiotic relationship; tourist dollars help finance preservation.

“To preserve it, you’ve got to be able to pay for it,” says Frank Usina, whose family has operated area businesses for more than 100 years. “The cash register has to ring because renovations, restorations, and maintenance are expensive.”

Registers have been ringing since 1893 at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park, one of the oldest tourist attractions in the state. Nearby, Florida’s first lighthouse—the 1871 St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum—is another beacon to sightseers.

One of the “newest” historic draws is the Old St. Augustine Village Museum, a collection of nine authentic buildings in their original locations. The site has been occupied for more than five centuries, most recently by philanthropic historian Kenneth Worcester Dow and his late wife, Mary. Dow donated the property, valued at more than $5 million, in 1987.

“We saw (the gift) as a very serious responsibility,” says Gary R. Libby, executive director of the Museum of Arts and Sciences and Center for Florida History, based in Daytona Beach. “City fathers and residents in St. Augustine tell us our center helps satisfy an important historical need in the city.” For although St. Augustine is well-preserved, locals are aware of what the city has lost through the centuries.

In addition to these sites, St. Augustine history also can be found—literally—underfoot.

“Our street layouts are far older than any of the buildings,” Tingley says. “You can walk down the same streets that Sir Frances Drake’s men attacked through in 1586, although the buildings have completely changed. That continuity is another reason St. Augustine is unique.”

The local phone book reveals more subtle evidence of continuity: surnames.

The Usina name has been around since 1778, when 1,200 Minorcan families were recruited to settle parts of Florida. Frank Usina’s ancestors were among them.

“It’s just there,” he says of his heritage. “You take it for granted, until you talk with people who don’t know anything about their family, or you visit an area that people haven’t lived in but a few years.

“There is a sense of connection here.”

Kara Carden is a regular contributor to American Profile.

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