Jim's wife Laura invited me to ride along with her to visit their daughter, Gail, who is attending Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.
Since Gail had classes until early afternoon, Laura and I visited Castillo de San Marcos. Dating from 1672, it is the oldest masonary fortification in North America. Built to protect and intimidate, it overlooks St. Augustine Inlet and the Atlantic Ocean and is now situated on a 20 acre park.
The fort has four bastions, a moat (which is just behind Laura), a drawbridge, and a shot furnace used to heat cannonballs, which would, in turn, set wooden ships ablaze.
The fort has four bastions, a moat (which is just behind Laura), a drawbridge, and a shot furnace used to heat cannonballs, which would, in turn, set wooden ships ablaze.
Constsructed of coquina ( a type of local shell) and how a National Monument, the fort twice proved strong enough for its Spanish builders to hold off attacks by the British. During one such onslaught in 1702, the Castillo housed all 1200 residents of St. Augustine, along with 300 soldiers, for two full months.
Before meeting Gail, we walked around the grounds of Flagler College, its historic campus being located 4 miles from the Atlantic Ocean in the heart of St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. It started as a small, private liberal arts women's college in 1968, but was reorganized to a coeducational college in 1791.
A church located on campus is just one example of the magnificant architecture that abounds in St. Augustine.
The most impressive building on campus has to be the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, built in 1888 by Henry Morrison Flagler, an industrialist, railroad poineer, and oil magnate. The Ponce now serves as a residence hall and centerpiece for the college. This fine example of Spanish Renaissance architecture is on the National Register of Historic Places. Thomas Edison personally helped make the Ponce the first building in Florida wired with electricity.
Louis Comfort Tiffany decorated the building's interior with stained glass, mosaics and several commissioned murals. The Ponce holds the largest collection of Tiffany glass in the world.
It is truly a work of art. Gail has lived in this beautiful residence hall for 4 years. What a life!!
We met Gail and had lunch at a little Italian restaurant in "Old Town." Afterwards, we walked through the streets of Old Town, visiting some of the many shops. This is Laura and Gail in front of the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the United States.
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