St. Augustine, Florida

The second stop of the day was St. Augustine, Florida, founded in 1565 and the oldest, permanent European settlement in the United States. Parts of the city were definitely a bit kitschy, sort of Gatlinburg meets the Colosseum (according to Clare). We first visited Castillo de San Marcos, a National Monument operated by the National Park Service. The Castillo de San Marcos is unique in North American architecture. As the only extant 17th century military construction in the country and the oldest masonry fortress in the United States it is a prime example of the "bastion system" of fortification, the culmination of hundreds of years of military defense engineering. Our next visit was to Memorial Presbyterian Church which was built by Henry Flagler as a memorial to his daughter Jennie Louise Flagler Benedict, who passed away in childbirth. Our last visit was to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, whose congregation, established in 1565, is the oldest Christian congregation in the contiguous United States. All three visits definitely made the stop in St. Augustine worthwhile. Clare especially liked visiting the Cathedral and learning about its origins and re-building and additions in later years. 







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