There are many places, that claim to be “the oldest” this
and that in the USA. We came to St. Augustine to see “the oldest continuously
inhabited settlement” (ældste sted, som har været konstant beboet). We visited
the old part of the city today (Friday).
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| Ponce de Leon |
Ponce de Leon came to the St. Augusta area in 1513. He
was (according to ledgend) in search of “the fountain of youth” (kilden til
evig ungdom) and gold. He claimed Florida for Spain. The French had landed 40
miles (60 km) north of St. Augustine before him, but the Spanish drove them
out. In 1565, Spain sent 700 soldiers and colonists to St. Augustine, to
establish a settlement. Since then, people have lived in the city. (Not old in
European standards, but just about as old as you get in the US.)
The Spanish colony was in danger of starvation, and was
constantly under attack from the French, the native Indians, and pirates. To help
protect the Spanish interests in the area, the queen of Spain ordered a fort
built. The construction of Castillo de San Marcos began in 1672, making it one
of the oldest standing structures in the USA.
The fort is built out of “coquina” - a type of stone that
is made of sea shells. This type of stone is not brittle (skør), and does not
crumble (smulre) under cannon fire. That makes it very suitable for building –
especially a fort. The fort, along with many other buildings and walls in the
town, that were built with coquina, are still standing today.
We saw “the oldest wooden school house in the US”.
And “the oldest house in town”.
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| This house was built in 1702, after a fire, that burned down the former house. It had been there since 1650. |
I even went to church in “the oldest Christian parish
(sogn)” in North America. (Unfortunately the church wasn’t very old.)
The architecture in St. Augusta is much different, than
what we have seen so far. There is a lot of Spanish influence here. A few
examples…
And there are LOTS of palmtrees😊
On Saturday, we went shopping and went to a flea market (krammermarked), that is neighbor to our camping ground. Bought a few things, and had
fun looking.
Written by Mary
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