Good Bye St. Augustine

It is with mixed emotions that we leave St. Augustine this morning. We are certainly glad to be cruising again after more than six months of inactivity, but we are sure going to miss this Old Town and the friends we've made here.

When we arrived two days before Hurricane Matthew, we were quickly welcomed, secured, and made to feel part of the community. After Matthew we were impressed with the positive attitude of the locals as they got their town back in shape.

Soon we bought some bikes, learned our way around town, and developed a routine of Sunday morning breakfasts and Wednesday night happy hours at Ann O'Malley's. We met new friends and spent lots of time with old cruising buddies. I even did the Wednesday morning Cruisers' Net for several weeks. We almost felt like locals and more than once tourists asked us for directions, so we must have looked like locals too.

And we got a lot of work done on the boat. We refinished all the sole pieces, removed the old teak decks, put down Kiwigrip nonskid, and installed new lifelines. But it wasn't all boat work. We also found a dermatologist who fixed Malcolm's ear, and we traveled to Costa Rica to get Malcolm's hernia repaired.

So as we head north I'm thinking our next stop is going to have to be pretty amazing to top St. Augustine, Florida.

Flagler College

aka Ponce de Leon Hotel

The Ponce de Leon Hotel was built by Henry Flagler in 1888 as a winter escape for wealthy Northerners. He and the movers and shakers of the era came here for the three month "Season" from January to April. A season's lodging cost around $4000, which would be $100,000 in today's dollars.

This beautiful four story building boasted many modern amenities for the era; it's own pressure water system, electric lighting, and poured concrete construction. It's Spanish Renaissance Revival facade contains precious works of art including murals by George W. Maynard, windows by Louis C. Tiffany, and ceiling murals by Italian artist Virgilio Tojetti. 

This grand dining room has seen a fascinating sweep of history and on March 31, 1964, the first sit-in of the civil rights movement occured right here. In fact, St. Augustine has a rich history from the civil rights era with many buildings in the Lincolnville neighborhood boasting "Martin Luther King was here" or "an important site in the civil rights movement" on their historical plaques.

This is the ladies' drawing room, furnished much as it would have looked at the turn of the century. The faculty and students at Flagler created some period dresses which are also on display here.

The history of St. Augustine and the legacy of Henry Flagler have been an interesting diversion from working on our boat and we hope you've enjoyed it too.