St. Augustine, Florida

We departed from Hannah Park near Jacksonville Beach on Wed. Nov 1. This time our destination was Anastasia State Park located on St. Augustine Beach. It’s approximately a 40 minute drive from Jacksonville, so it was another easy day.

Anastasia Park is considered one of the nicest parks in Florida with a rating of 10 out of 10 pts. The campsites are large, spaced fairly far apart, and private with moss-draped oaks, cypress, magnolias and palm trees. The campsites are located close to the beach and the surf can be heard, particularly at night. The park also includes a slowly flowing lagoon, a marsh, and a barrier island with many birds. We haven’t seen any alligators yet but the armadillos make a nightly run through our campsite.

St. Augustine is the oldest, continuously occupied European settlement in the U. S. Ponce de Leon landed in this area in 1513 in search of the Fountain of Youth. It has been occupied at different times by the Spanish, British and U.S. The Old City has many buildings that date back to colonial times and others are being restored. Many of these buildings are made of coquina rock (a rock composed of compressed sea shells) that is mixed with oyster shells. It is an easy walk around the Old City with its quaint shops, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts. There is also a restored and reconstructed Colonial Spanish Quarter depicting daily life in 1740. There are demonstrations of blacksmithing, carpentry, leather working, coopering, and candle making by costumed interpreters.

One of the highlights of the St Augustine area is the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. It is the oldest masonry fort in the U.S. It was built in 1672 of coquina rock and has a 12 foot thick wall with draw bridges and a moat surrounding it. You can even see indentations in the wall where it was hit by cannon balls.

This is at the top of our list of wonderful cities to visit.