St Augustine history

We’ve been hanging around St Augustine waiting for the north winds to abate so we can head north up the coast. We’ve done lots of walking, boat maintenance, reading and seeing some of the history in the area with friends on another sailboat.

The first pictures are of the Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine, America’s oldest catholic parish in America’s oldest city. The first church was built in 1560 but burned down. Then the second building did too. In 1887 with contributions from Henry Flagler and members of the congregation, a third building was constructed. Beautiful mahogany and stain glass windows were used in the building which still stands today.

The pictures below are at Castille de San Marcos, the Spanish fort in St Augustine. There was a Colonial Craft day in honor of Women’s History Month with women demonstrating crafts of all sorts. There were spinning wheels and small hand spinners, basket weavers and other artisans.

Greg trying his hand at spinning yarn into thread on a small hand spinner.

She made it look easy!

The last pictures are of Memorial Presbyterian Church that’s been in use since 1824. It was built by Henry Flagler and dedicated to honor his daughter who died from childbirth, thus the name memorial. We went to an organ concert and took a tour of the building. It is beautiful with mahogany pews and it has 92 stained glass windows! The pipe organ is amazing with how it fills the building with beautiful music!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He quieted the sea with His power