St. Augustine, Florida – 442 Years Old

Today is the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo (North Africa). St. Augustine died on August 28, 430 AD. Thus the feast. On “The Feast of St. Augustine”, August 28, 1565, Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sighted land while cruising the waters off eastern Florida. He subsequently named the settlement they founded, St. Augustine, in honor of Augustine. I guess if they had been a day earlier they might have named the new town St. Monica, in honor of Augustine’s mother’s feast day! Anyways... it was August 28th and Augustine got the nod. St. Augustine has survived the years and is now known as “the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental United States”.

St. Augustine has had a very colorful history. The French, Spanish, and British fought up and down the Florida coast during the colonial period. The Brits finally secured a claim after the Treaty of Paris in 1763. British tenure would be short lived as St. Augustine returned to Spanish control after the American War of Independence. St. Augustine finally came under American control in 1821 when Florida became an American territory.

The railroad came to St. Augustine in the late 19th century. Industrialist and railway magnate Henry Flagler transformed the town into a winter resort for wealthy folks wanting to escape the northern cold. The architecture of this period is truly breathtaking as witnessed by Flagler college and a number of other buildings.

My Mom and Dad have spent the winter in St. Augustine for the past 15 years. Lucky them! It is a great community and has really become a home to them. I like to visit them there as often as possible. Lately I’ve been making it down twice each winter, once in November before the season of Advent begins and again in February before Lent. These are wonderful holidays filled with golf and fun times with Mom & Dad and their wide circle of wild friends. I’ll be down there for about 10 days this November. Looking forward to it!!

TTFN… Rob; in Vancouver

“O Lord, help me to be pure... but not yet.” Saint Augustine