Northeast Florida

We arrived at Jacksonville Naval Air Station on April 24th to visit with Teri's sister, Coralee, and her husband, Lance.  Coralee and Lance are full-time RV'ers so we try to meet them somewhere when we are traveling.

We spent a full day in St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States.  These city gates were built in 1808 as a line of defense for the city and were the only way into the city at that time.

Many of the historical buildings were done in the Spanish style with terracotta spires and moldings.

The Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church was built by Henry Flagler in 1889.  He had it built as a memorial to his only daughter, Jenny. 

Henry Flagler constructed many buildings throughout St. Augustine - many of which are currently by used by  Flagler College - a four year liberal arts college.

A statue of Ponce de Leon who was only 4' 11" tall is located in the Plaza de la Constitucion near many shops and restaurants. 

This is St. Augustine's one and only skyscraper.  After this was built, the city passed laws making it illegal to construct a building over three stories high.

This live oak tree is 600 years old.  It was amazing to think how many changes have happened around this old, old tree.  It is called the Old Senator.

Couldn't resist a picture of this guy.  He greeted us as our trolley stopped at the Ponce de Leon Fountain of Youth site.  Clothing and speech of the era of Ponce de Leon.

A picture of the medicine cabinet for the oldest drug store in the United States.  Since St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US, there are a lot of the oldest kind of things.

One of the biggest highlights of our trip to this area was finding this marker of the OST.  The OST Association selected St. Augustine as its beginning or zero mile.  The celebration of the completion of the OST included the dedication of a six-foot diameter coquina stone monument.

What a photo opportunity.  We found this official marker of the OST.  We felt like our search was complete.

Here's a little info from the Nat'l Park brochure about Fort Castillo (pictures below) that we visited while in St. Augustine.  "Fort Castillo is one of the most extraordinary places in the United States; incorporating over 335 years of America's history and culture.  Construction of the Castillo de San Marcos started in 1672 making it one of the oldest standing structures in North America.  This fortress has served six different flags, survived hurricanes, and withstood bombardments and sieges.  The structure has undergone many changes over the years but appears today much as it would have looked at its final completion in 1756."

We saw and heard a loud presentation of muskets.  It seemed like there were a dozen steps that took forever to do before shooting them.  They put the flint in, then put the powder went in, then the ball, then signal to fire in unison.  Since they are not really accurate, they had a line of shooters so some hits would be made.  Those that struck were very deadly.  The time to prepare would never work for deer or elk hunting at home.

We wondered if this street might have existed during the OST era.  Actually, most of the streets in the downtown area of St. Augustine were very narrow which is typical of the old cities of the US.

A number of the homes were marked as historical and the signs gave a little information about the house.

Another day, we visited Jacksonville Beach since it represented another section of the OST.  The highway was a local road at the end of Beach Boulevard.  Today there are no remnants of America's southernmost  highway.

It was breezy but also a gorgeous day on the Atlantic Ocean.

We visited Fort Caroline which was the first planned French settlement in what is now the United States.

This particular display reminds us of the battles to conquer and rule the United States as well as the evolution of the United States to its present days.

There aren't any parts of the original fort left today so all the displays are replicas.

We enjoyed a stroll around a mile long nature trail with lots of information about the local flora.

We really enjoyed our visit with Coralee and Lance and can see how much they are enjoying being full-time RV'ers.  We said good-bye the morning after this picture.

Northwest Florida

We have arrived in Florida - northern Florida, that is, and we have been told that's not really Florida.

Since the home base for the US Navy Blue Angels is Pensacola, FL, the welcome center had several displays  about the Blue Angels.

We stayed in an RV park on the Yellow River and were fascinated by the cypress trees growing in the water.  Here again the water isn't pristine like the NW.  The rivers and creeks run very slow.

We spent a day exploring the area around Pensacola looking for markers or something about the Old Spanish Trail.  We found this one street sign so someone knows about the OST but not much of the history has been preserved.

We looked around Live Oak and Lake City, FL, and found some OST era buildings. 

A courthouse in Lake City was just a block from what was believed to be the OST route.

Former Fort Lancaster was on another corner of a town square in Lake City.  The town square memorialized the civil war conflicts and regiments from this area.

The information we have seen says this old brick road located in Wellborn, FL, was a section of the OST.  We visited with a local cabinet maker who has a serious interest in the local history.  However, he had never heard about the OST.

This gentlemen has restored these buildings.  The one on the left was the general store of Wellbourne that was a going concern during the cotton days of the late 1800's. 

The building below is another of the gentlemen's project.  It was brought from a nearby town and he added the siding and roofing of other old buildings to make it look more authentic.

We saw many railroad depots during our drives.  Most of them have been converted for other uses.  Prior to the building of roads like the OST, the railroads were the primary transportation for goods and passengers.

We had lunch near this spring fed pond.  It is possible this pond was a stopping point along the OST since its water was cool and clear.

In Madison, FL, we found this building currently used as an antique shop and bed and breakfast.  During the OST period, this building housed the Madison Hotel which offered steam heat and air cooling.

Around the corner in Madison, we saw this concrete building (a little down on its luck now) that was the Hancock Hotel which was another popular stop along the Trail.

In Greenville, FL, one of the last country hotels along the OST in Florida is still in use.  It is now called the Grace Manor and is a bed and breakfast inn.  It is a three story house with a wraparound porch and gables.  The building was beautifully restored and the grounds were full of flowers, shrubs and trees.

We stayed at a gorgeous state park on the Suwannee River.  It is the one and the same from this song:

The Swanee River (Old Folks at Home)

Written by Stephen C. Foster

Way down upon de swanee Ribber,

Far, far away.

Dere's wha my heart is turning ebber,

Dere's wha de old folks stay.

All up and down de whole creation

Sadly I roam,

Still longing for de old plantation,

And for de old folks at home.

Some of you many not be old enough to remember this song but many of us boomers do remember it.  It is currently the state song of Florida.

This cemetery was at the state park.  The headstones were barely legible.  The earliest date of death was 1856.  Old headstones also tell how long the person lived; for example, one child was only 3 month and 29 days old when they passed.  It is also interesting to see that the gravesites have both headstones and footstones.

******We have found a nomination for REDNECK RV PARK of the YEAR.  One of the residents was keeping the local peacock from pecking his hubcabs and perching on the top of his car by placing and running a water sprinkler on the top of the car.  Picture that.  The sprinkler ran all the time we were there.  We should have got a picture of it.  It's hard to believe.******