About twenty years after Columbus discovered the “Indies” in 1492, Don Juan Ponce de Leon made his own discoveries and claimed the flowered landscape of “Florida” for Spain. Ponce de Leon was also known for finding the fabled Fountain of Youth, yet his most important discovery was possibly the Gulf Stream off the Florida coast which aided the Spanish in returning their new-found Aztec and Inca gold booty to Spain. With several explorations into Florida, Spain knew Florida did not have gold for the taking and felt the low coastal land was not worth settling.

In 1564, a group of French Huguenots began a colony near present-day Jacksonville, this incursion by French Protestants in Spanish Florida caused alarm. Captain general of the annual treasure fleet, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, forced out the French and founded St. Augustine on the feast day of St. Augustine in September of 1565. He dedicated the land to Spain and to the church, created a mission along side the fortress which defended the coast and Spanish shipping. It was from this auspicious beginning that St. Augustine became North America’s oldest permanent European-based settlement and the oldest Catholic parish in the country.

In the first decades after the establishment of St. Augustine, the Castillo de San Marcos was constructed. It took over twenty years to complete the impressive stone fortress, which in its four hundred year history was never taken by force. Attacked by the British in the early 18th century, the Spanish eventually ceded Florida and the fortress to England in 1763. During the American Revolution, St. Augustine remained loyal to England and at the 1783 Treaty of Paris, Florida was ceded back to Spain.

The second Spanish period lasted 37 years when in 1821, Spain sold the territory of Florida to the United States. In 1845, Florida became the 27th state to enter the Union. Fifteen years later, Florida would follow the south and secede from the Union to became part of the Confederacy. During most of this period, St. Augustine’s fort remained in the hands of the Union. Renamed Fort Marion in the 1820s, the old Castillo was still there at the end of the conflict to celebrate the city’s 300th birthday.

After the war, the age of the railroad took hold in America. In 1869, rail lines stretched across the country to California and in 1880, Henry M. Flagler decided St. Augustine would be an ideal winter rail destination for wealthy Northerners. During the last two decades of the 19th century, Flagler built a rail line and three major hotels in St. Augustine. He also added a hospital, a two story depot, a new city hall and several churches. The fort became the site of a golf course and yacht racing became a popular St. Augustine pastime.
Between fires and 20th-century bulldozers, many changes have occurred in St. Augustine over the past 400 years. The fort was named as a National Monument site in 1924 and became a National Park in 1933. To honor its original beginnings and heritage, the fort was officially renamed the Castillo de San Marcos in 1946. In 1959, the state of Florida stepped in to help to preserve and restore what was left of St. Augustine’s colonial structures. The results of this endeavor include the Colonial Spanish Quarter and Old St. Augustine Village. Flaglers three grand hotels are still here, one has become a decorative arts museum, another a four-year college and one has recently been restored to its original purpose and is now a world-class hotel resort.

The charm of the old city, the exciting activities along the beaches and the numerous outdoor attractions scattered throughout the area, draw visitors here year-round. As a premier golf destination for over 100 years, the professional golf community has honored the areas golf history by locating the World Golf Hall of Fame here along with some impressive and renown resort courses. Come for the outdoors and come for the history, St. Augustine is a great year-round vacation destination.

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