St. Augustine in Northeast Florida is considered the nation’s oldest city, having been established in 1565 by Spanish settlers. In September 2015, the celebrations of St. Augustine’s 450th anniversary will start in earnest. But I believe this historic town on the Atlantic Ocean is always worth a visit. And I’m not just saying that because Scott’s family lives there.
There are so many attractions, like the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States ), the Bridge of Lions, Flagler College, the St. Augustine lighthouse, the oldest wooden school house, all the old churches and hotels and always crowded St. George Street with its shops and cafes. There are quite a few attractions that “us locals” usually avoid, like the Fountain of Youth (moved several times, as I hear), Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum and the Alligator Farm (although I’ve been and thought it was quite cool) and all the tourist trolleys and ghost tours. My personal favorite attractions are the beaches, like Vilano Beach and the beaches of Anastasia State Park, the Matanzas River and its wetlands.
This week, Scott and I spend a few days visiting his family in St. Augustine (and some of our oldest friends in Gainesville, where I didn’t have enough time to shoot a video, unfortunately). Whiskey finally got to experience the ocean for the first time, and we spent an afternoon running around with Scott’s mom, Ellie Snapp, and his dad, Billy Solary, to capture a few shots of this lovely town to share with you in this video. Because there wasn’t that much time, I didn’t get to film everything and I had to shoot handheld (like in the early days of this video series). So I ended up swapping some filmed shots with still photos in the edit. I’m sure, I’ll be back to film some of the missed attractions another time…
If you’d like to see more of Florida, please check out these other Moving Postcard videos:
North Florida – In Another Minute (Week 79)
Relaxing Beach – In Another Minute (Week 83)
Sanibel + Captiva Islands (Florida) – In Another Minute (Week 104)
The featured song is “Sunburn” by Jason Matherne of Goonygoogoo Productions. It was wonderful visiting with him in Gainesville this week. I definitely want to film a In A Minute Portrait video with him next time I’m in town for a bit longer.
