St. Augustine is a city on the Atlantic coast in northeastern Florida. It was founded on September 8, 1565, by the Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who was the first governor of Florida. He named the settlement San Agustín after Augustine of Hippo. The reason was because his ships with settlers, troops and supplies from Spain made landfall in Florida eleven days earlier, which was the name day of Saint Augustine. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years and during the short time when Great Britain ruled 1763-1783.

St. Augustine is the oldest existing city in the continental United States, established by European explorers and settlers. The area became American in 1819, and at first the city was one of the alternating capitals of the Florida Territory before Tallahassee was designated as the permanent capital in 1824. In 1845, Florida was admitted to the United States as a state, and since then Saint Augustine, like other places in Florida, experienced great growth in the population moving to the mild climate of the state.

Today, you can explore the city’s history through preserved buildings from St. Augustine’s different eras from the Spanish years to present day, and it includes an interesting architectural mix and of course something unique in a country with only newer cities and settlements. The best place to start a tour of the city is St. George Street, where the old houses stand side by side. Among other things, you can see the city’s old school from before 1716 in no. 14, and from here you can also visit the Colonial Quarter, which exudes a Spanish atmosphere from the colonial days of old.

In this area you can also see and visit the castle Castillo de San Marcos. The castle was designed by the Spanish engineer Ignacio Daza and built from 1672. It was the governor Francisco de la Guerra y de la Vega who initiated construction after English raids in 1668, which destroyed much of St. Augustine including the then Spanish fort, which was built of wood. The fort has four bastions named San Pedro, San Agustín, San Carlos and San Pablo and a protective ravelin.

A few minutes’ walk south of the center is St. Francis Barracks, which were built 1724-1755 by the Franciscan Order, and which were later fitted out as barracks by the British. Near St. Francis Barracks you can see the King’s Bakery, which was built in the 18th century under Great Britain. From the 19th century you can see, for example, the beautiful mansion Markland, which was built in neoclassicism in 1839, and Saint Augustine Lighthouse from the 1870s. The lighthouse is open today as St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum.

St. Augustine changed from 1883. That year, tycoon Henry Flagler came to the city, which he could see great potential in, just as it was the case for other parts of Florida. Flagler built the Ponce de León Hotel in 1885-1887. It was a luxury Spanish Renaissance hotel that today is part of Flagler College. Opposite Flagler’s old hotel is the Lightner Museum, housed in the former Hotel Alcazar from 1888, which was also built by Henry Flagler. From the same period, you can see the Casa Monica Hotel and Zorayda Castle, while the Bridge of Lions from the 1920s is home to the city’s famous Medici lions.

There are also some beautiful and interesting churches in St. Augustine. Close to the Ponce de León Hotel is the Grace United Methodist Church, which, like the hotel, was built by Henry Flagler. The church was constructed in 1886-1887 in Spanish Neo-Renaissance style, as in other of Flagler’s contemporaneous constructions in the city. Flagler also built the Memorial Presbyterian Church in the same area, and Henry Flagler belonged to the Presbyterian Church. You can also see the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine nearby. It was built in the 1790s and stands as an example of an architecture inspired not least by Spanish colonial style.