Honeymoon Road Trip – Part 6: St. Augustine, Florida

Day 8

When we first started planning our road trip through the Southern US, a couple of people mentioned St. Augustine, Florida. Despite the fact that I’ve driven through Florida many times and my parents own a house there, I’d never heard much about St. Augustine aside from the occasional mention of it when my uncle was watching golf. It turns out that there is this whole city that I didn’t even know about it, and not just any city – it’s the oldest city in America. How did I miss this?

The city dates back to 1565, when Pedro Menendez de Aviles claimed the site for King Philip II of Spain and established a small outpost. That’s 42 years before Jamestown and 55 years before Plymouth. Since then, the city has been under Spanish, English and American rule, which explains the eclectic heritage of the area and why it truly is unlike any other city I’ve been to on the East Coast.

Our first stop was to Flagler College, which once was the famed Hotel Ponce de Leon.

In 1868 at age 37, Henry Flagler joined forces with John Rockefeller to form the Standard Oil company and gained his fortune. In 1877, Flagler traveled to Florida because the winter climate was better for his wife who was dying of tuberculosis.

He set out to begin the design of his first luxury, winter hotel on Florida’s east coast, hiring two young architects John Carrère and Thomas Hastings to assist him in building his dream.

Flagler chose the Spanish Renaissance Revival style to go with the city’s historic surroundings. The hotel was the first large scale building constructed entirely of poured concrete and had many top notch luxuries from the era – including it’s own telegram room and electricity powered by The Edison Electric Company. (one of the first electrified buildings!)

The centerpiece of the courtyard is a beautiful ornate fountain (in the photo above) which also serves as a sundial. Surrounding the fountain are four turtles to represent the four seasons seasons and 12 frogs to mark the hours. This little guy with his one hand up serves as 12 o’clock.

When I first walked in the lobby, I looked up and was just in complete awe. The ceiling is covered in an intricate 24 carat gold leaf design.

Then you look under your feet to see hand laid African mosaic flooring. The design looks perfect but there is actually an intentional mistake in the floors pattern because Flagler believed that only God should be able to create perfection.

Every corner has a new detail to catch your eye and you can see that no expense was spared in it’s construction.

We continued on into the dining room to see the 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows.

Here were are standing for some perspective on how large these windows are (and because we’re honeymooners and that’s what you do – take pictures of yourselves in front of things all over the trip. Mainly to show people you were there and also to look back someday and say “we looked like babies back then”. Am I right?)

See these chairs? The one on the left is an original from the hotel and the one on the right is a reproduction. And the crazy thing? They still use these chairs in the dining hall with the students. Our tour guide said that she and her friends try to get the old chairs when they can spot them and then guess what famous guests from the hotel could have sat in them before. Maybe Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, or Babe Ruth?

Across the street is the Lightner Musuem, which used to house the Hotel Alcazar, which was also built by Flagler.

 Right beside it is another famous hotel, Casa Monica, which Flagler bought as well.

 After a long morning spent walking around to take in the sights (there is just so much to see!) we stopped for lunch at Scarlett O’Hara’s.

The decor inside, as you can image, was all an ode to Gone With the Wind, much like our beloved Wisteria Bed and Breakfast in Laurel, Mississippi (and this wouldn’t be the last time we saw shrines to the classic Southern film on this trip). Next door there is a piano bar called Rhett’s named after Scarlett’s love interest.

I went with a blackened chicken caesar salad and Garrett tried the pulled pork sandwich. Afterwards we snuck upstairs for a peek at their famed Ghost Bar, rumored to be haunted by the man who built the house and drowned in a bathtub upstairs.

 After lunch, we looped around to come in through the Old City Gates, built in 1704 and reinforced with local palmetto logs.

 Now the gates lead into the old part of town, with shops and restaurants for tourists.

We caught a glimpse of the oldest wooden school house in America, built before 1716. (I did a double take when I saw the creepy mannequin in the upstairs window!)

We came across this great shop called The House of Z, where they turn sea glass collected on the beach into beautiful unique jewelry.

 I’m so glad they have an Etsy shop, because I’ll be back to buy pieces for gifts for sure.

I was drawn to the earrings right away and after a difficult decision (so many options), I landed on a new pair as a birthday gift from Garrett.

I loved the light blue colour with the frosted white – and now when I wear them (all the time!) they remind me of celebrating my birthday on our honeymoon.

If we’d had the car with us (we took a trolley into the city) I would have loved to bring home some of these giant terracotta pots we spotted along the way. They were so fun and colourful. They even had a jack-o-lantern one shaped like a pumpkin!

Once we picked the car back up, we drove along the water, looking at all the fun coloured Florida homes.

You could never get away with painting a house this colour in Canada, but they just seem to fit into the vibe of Florida with no problems.

After a day of walking around, we came back to the hotel to celebrate my 29th birthday with some strawberry cheesecake from the freezer section at the grocery store. It’s was a pretty great birthday cake to find on the fly.

Then it was time to dress up a little and head back into the city for a few late night drinks to celebrate. We stopped by the Mill Top Tavern to sit out on the patio and listen to live music.

It was such a fun night celebrating my first birthday being this guy’s wife.

 Afterwards, we walked along the water and admired all the ships out in the harbour.

 And got up close and personal with the namesakes of the Bridge of Lions.

Day 9

The next morning we came back into town and drove by Castillo De San Marcos, built in 1672.

I love the designs of the “Old Florida” homes like this one. They remind me of the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers (one of my favourite places to visit when we’re down there).

While we were in St. Augustine, I knew that I wanted to splurge on one treat for my birthday – a custom pair of leather sandals made by Dan Holiday Leather. Erin recommended them (she has a pair herself) and when I heard about how great they were, I had to go for it.

We showed up at the shop and Dan’s assistant traced the shape of my feet.

Then this weekend, the sandals showed up at our doorstep and I could hardly wait to open the package. I still need to soak them in water and then walk around with them on to get them to fit just right. Another token to wear and remember a great city we visited on our road trip.

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Just in case you’ve missed the previous Honeymoon Road Trip Posts:

• Part 1: Heading out on the Open Road {Nashville & Arriving in Laurel}
• Part 2: Beautiful Laurel, Mississippi
• Part 3: Arriving in New Orleans & Visiting Plantations along the Mississippi River
• Part 4: New Orleans {The Garden District and the French Quarter}
• Part 5: Leaving New Orleans and driving through Alabama to Destin, Florida