Continuing our February theme of American History 101, Aliyah Rose took her adoring fans to Saint Augustine, Florida. And what a beautiful day to visit the oldest continuously occupied city in the entire United States! St. Augustine was first established back in 1655, which makes it 365 years old on the day of our visit. That still makes it a baby by European standards, but hey, it’s a start, right?
Florida is born – You may recall that back in 1513 Ponce de Leon first landed on the shores of what is now Florida and named it “The Land of Flowers” or, wait for it…. La Florida. He claimed it for the Spanish crown, completely disregarding the fact that there were people ALREADY LIVING THERE, aka Native Americans. Spain held on to Florida (mostly) for about 250 years, until she sold it to the USA in 1822 for $5 million in debt relief. Lesson Learned: don’t run up your debts and you won’t have to sell off your New World holdings!
St. Augustine is born – Fast forward to 143 years after claiming Florida, Spain sent conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to maintain control of the territory and ‘take care’ of French incursions. Pedro first set eyes on the Florida coastline on Saint Augustine’s feast day in 1655, soon landed, and set up a new town as a base of operations. He apparently thought of himself as a good Catholic so he named the town after the saint. However, he was a nasty piece of work who trampled the Ten Commandments, particularly the bits about “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “Don’t murder people.” Shortly after founding St. Augustine he destroyed a nearby French settlement and killed *everyone* there, hanging their bodies from the trees. But he probably went to church on Sunday. And that, folks, is what we call “hypocrisy.”
Aliyah Rose sashays in – Fast forward another 365 years to the auspicious year of Our Lord 2020, and Aliyah Rose sweeps into town with her biggest fans to inspect St. Augustine’s historic district. It was a warm sunny February morning and the the historical school house, shops, and scenery all completed for her rapt attention. You can see she was prepared for some serious shopping with her mermaid bag slung over her shoulders. She also wore her favorite pink cowgirl boots, which goes to show that you can’t take the country out of the girl! Even mermaid girls. Mergirls? Mermaidens? Cowmermaidens? We need some new vocabulary here. Merriam-Webster, are you with us on this?
Getting to the historic district involved parking in front of the Castillo de San Marcos and walking across a street. Aliyah insisted on holding hands with her Bodyguard and Chauffeur so he wouldn’t stray into traffic. What, doesn’t she trust us??
Aliyah discovered several interesting shops, but we helped her resist the urge to divest us of our hard earned doubloons. Er, for the most part. Aliyah had set a limit of one souvenir this fine day, and it was tough choosing. But in the end she found just the right gift for a well behaved, erudite young lady/tomboy/cowmermaiden. Well, who says you can’t be it all??? (Note to Gentle Reader: please find/create a new word for me here. What would *you* call a young lady/tomboy/cowmermaiden in under 9 syllables?)
Grams would like a present from this shop 
Oh my, how lovely! 
SOOO pretty! 
MUST. TAKE. PHOTOS. 
Love those turtles and flowing ocean currents.
There were also some beautiful park areas that we didn’t make it to, as we were all getting hungry and impatient for lunch. We’re guessing that the parks were probably a built up part of the town at one point, but if anyone has better info, let us know!
We even found a waterwheel!
Somewhere along the way Aliyah made a new doggie friend, as is her way. She knows that you always say hello to doggo’s hooman attendant first to ask if doggo will give you permission to approach. Respectfully. This handsome guy granted Aliyah’s application to pat his soft floofy back. He looked a little unsure about whether she was going to be grabby, but Aliyah is an experienced Dog Respector who tries her best to follow the Rules of Dog. No grabbing, yelling, or scaring the puppers. Always ask permission. Say thank you when it’s time to go. Easy peasy!
The highlight of the towne had to be the old schoolhouse. Not just any old schoolhouse but the OLDEST wooden schoolhouse in the ENTIRE United States. Aliyah loves her a good education, and is already excited to be starting Kindergarten come September. So this was a real treat.
We didn’t notice this at first, but the schoolhouse is anchored solidly to the ground, with a chain going around the top of the building. Were they afraid it was going to escape? Was it being punished? Actually it was intended to keep the school from blowing away in hurricane-force winds. And it’s still there, so clearly there is another lesson to be learned today. If you love your house, chain it to the ground!!
We bought our tickets in the gift shop, and this was also where Aliyah found her treasure – a beautiful Raggedy Ann doll. But sadly, there were no patches on this doll. Not very raggedy. Did someone not get the memo? Aliyah did not mind this little slip up and held her new dolly tight all afternoon.
The school building is accessible through a courtyard connecting the schoolhouse, kitchen, water well, and garden.
Rules for teachers were pretty straightforward. Men were given time off to ‘court’ the ladies and they even got to keep their jobs if they were bold enough to marry one. Ladies got zero time off for courtship and got canned if they got caught marrying or engaging in (other) unseemly conduct. We can’t make this stuff up.
The school had a teacher’s living/working room with a writing desk, rocking chair and other bits of furniture. However, if a woman teacher got married, she lost her job, so we were confused about the baby. Did they only want unwed mothers teaching but not married moms? Was it ok to be divorced? So many questions! (Answer – One of the first teachers to work here was a single man who got married and raised his family here. So it was ok to be a Dad and teach, but not a Mom. So. Weird.)
Sitting room for teachers. Baby not included. 
Was this typical regional produce in the 1800s? Somebody help me?
The classroom had an animated scenario that visitors and their Granddads can activate by pressing a button. You have to wait for 20 seconds before the scenario starts, so patience is necessary. And a virtue. Here’s your chance to practice.
The animated performance was a fun and engaging dialog that explained a lot about the ups and downs of teaching and learning in these old time schools. You can see a little boy experiencing the opportunity to wear a dunce cap for underperformance. That was not as bad as being sent to the closet under the stairs, which sounds truly awful. Aliyah had to explain some of the finer points to R. Ann, who in all honesty was not paying much attention.
This school operated until 1864, and the last roll call is memorialized on a plaque, along with the date of death of each little girl and boy. How morbid is that? Still it would be pretty amazing if your ancestors were children attending this school. Aliyah was not this lucky.
There was a kitchen for the teacher, and it was a separate structure so it wouldn’t burn down the school if it caught on fire. How thoughtful! This was actually quite common from what we’ve read, since kitchen fires were such a high risk.
Did you know that Laura Ingalls Wilder lost her home as a young bride when her kitchen caught fire? Read her novel The First Four Years to learn more!
There was also a well to draw water, but it was grated over to protect little explorers from delving too deeply. Grams, as the Safety Officer, always approves of safety measures. Sturdy safety measures built with rebar.
There was a beautiful courtyard with several busts of famous educators, and a gentleman who tended the grounds and answered all kinds of questions with patience and humor:
This helpful gentleman showed us where the school bell was, and let Aliyah ring it a couple of times.
Granddad had a good time trying to stay out of the camera’s line of sight. Grams snuck up on him though, and caught this stunning example of “standing around near a picturesque monument.” Incredible!
We took a moment to sit down on this rustic carved bench in front of the schoolhouse before continuing on. Oddly, Aliyah decided *not* to take a short lie-down like she so often does.
After our educational tour, everyone was hungry and clamored for lunch. There were several great choices, depending on which one of us you asked. Aliyah voted on the pink milkshake, Granddad lobbied hard for the “Husband Daycare”, and Grams was holding out hope for a nice salad. Our bellies and bladders got tired of all the comparison shopping around the time we passed Augie’s Draft (Burgers & Brews).” Note: We did NOT get the brews! Sheesh.
Oh, so tempting…. 
Something for everyone! 
Good food and amazing fries.
The first thing Aliyah did was belly up to the bar, er, table and demand food. Politely.
She quickly discovered the age old problem, “where the heck do I put my bag?” The problem was eventually solved when she tucked her bag under her chair, where we tied it to the leg to prevent it from wandering off with strangers.
The food was entirely delicious, if not entirely healthy. Those fries were straight from fry heaven, but you would probably have to jog 5 miles after eating them to work off those calories.
They not only had good food, but great advice as well:
Did they want us to behave or NOT behave? And will Facebook tweak our posts as part of their creepy social experiments?
We all left with full tummies and smiles on our faces, ready for the next adventure… the Pirate Museum!
Aliyah’s Review
Aliyah liked her Raggedy Ann, touring everything, and eating those french fries. She didn’t like waiting for the fries to cool or being denied the colorful yard art (above.) Two little thumbs up!
Love and blessings from all of us to all of you!
About St. Augustine Historic District
Website: https://www.visitstaugustine.com/regions/historic-district
Map: https://www.visitstaugustine.com/map/
About the Old SchoolHouse
Website: https://www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/oldest-wooden-school-house
Address: 14 St. George Street, St. Augustine, FL, 32084
Phone: ( 904) 824-0192
References
- Encylopaedia Britannica, ‘St. Augustine’, https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Augustine-Florida-United-States
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Pedro Menendez de Aviges’, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pedro-Menendez-de-Aviles
- Florida Center for Instructional Technology, “Florida Becomes a State”, https://fcit.usf.edu/florida/docs/f/flstate.htm
- History channel, ‘The U.S. acquires Spanish Florida’, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-u-s-acquires-spanish-florida
- St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, ‘About St. Augustine’, https://www.sjcchamber.com/st-augustine
- VisitStAugustine.com, ‘Historic District’, https://www.visitstaugustine.com/regions/historic-district
- VisitStAugustine.com, ‘Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse’, https://www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/oldest-wooden-school-house
- Wilder, Laura Ingalls, The First Four Years (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/first-four-years-laura-ingalls-wilder/1100550936?ean=9780060581886#/)