Florida Day Two: Saint Augustine

Be warned, this is a big post with lots of photos.

Monday, 7 September, we headed out to Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach, and eventually to Saint Augustine. We drove along the Intercostal Waterway/Halifax River and paused at The Casements, home of John D. Rockefeller, and the picturesque surrounding neighborhood. We ate lunch at Flagler Beach before continuing on to Saint Augustine where they are celebrating 450 years. It is the earliest settlement in the United States, being founded in 1565. There, we visited Castillo San Marco, a fortress built to protect Spanish treasure in the New World from the French and British. It and all the stone buildings in Saint Augustine are constructed of coquina, a local sedimentary rock made primarily of shells with a little sand. We visited Ponce de Leon Hall at Flagler College, originally the Ponce de Leon Hotel. It is a splendid Victorian-era building with fantastic decorative detail. We walked the historic area of Saint Augustine along Saint George Street, and then drove to the nearby Gonzales-Alvarez House, reputed to be the oldest house in the USA.

 Clubhouse at the Boynton's complex

 The Intercostal Waterway at Ormond Beach, 

looking toward Daytona Beach

 The Casements, the Rockefeller home

 A lovely home in the same neighborhood

 Wonderful tree-lined streets in the neighborhood

 Ormond Beach

 Picnic lunch at Flagler Beach

 Happy picnickers 

 Wildflowers along the A1A  costal highway

 Entrance to Castillo San Marco

 Dormitory in the fortress

 Great Spanish classical design elements

 Spanish cannon detail

 Vic, Rod, and Kris at the Castillo

 Same group, same place

 View south down the river

 View from the fortress toward the town

 Lovely ladies

 View north up the river from Castillo San Marco

 The shells are most apparent in the weathered coquina

 The Basilica

 Ponce de Leon Hall at Flagler College

 Rich Victorian design

 The interior

 The rotunda

 A fine plaster arabesque in a decorative niche

 The troops headed up Saint George Street

 Saint George Street, Saint Augustine

 Vic and Kris enjoying the heat and humidity

 The Oldest House

 Rod in the gardens of the same

 The kitchen was a separate building 

Supper back in Deland at the Brickhouse

This was a great day. Thanks to Rod and Vic for the excellent management. Today we are off to Disney World, so there will be more. That's all for now.

OXO

D.