Deus Nos Conjuxit: St. Augustine Part 1- Historical tours

We were blessed this past week to take a little vacation to St. Augustine! I have never been there and had wanted to go after teaching history to the children. It's the oldest city in America and just beautiful and quaint. We left Wednesday morning. Tucker had his atlas (as always) and kept us posted on the counties and cities we were passing through. :)

Charliebear read us a "Charlie the Ranch Dog" story aloud. :)

We got there in time to unload our VERY packed car and grab dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant in a little shopping area that looked like a European Village.

After a trip to Publix to grab all the groceries for the week we got home after 9 p.m. All we had time to do was walk down to the beach with flashlights and hunt ghost crabs. Of course Sissy picked them right up!

Thursday morning we woke up and decided to do all the historical things before Marc's family arrived on Friday (they've been a million times before). Our first stop was to Fort Mantanzas, which was very interesting. It was built by the Spanish in 1742 to guard the back entrance to St. Augustine.

Unfortunately there was a ton of damage from Hurricane Matthew this past fall and the ferry to the fort was closed. We still got to enjoy the visitor's center, watch a movie and hear a live demonstration of warfare during the time the fort was active.

The fort is just across the water-

So many buildings in St. Augustine are made of coquina- a rock made out of shells that is naturally found in the area. It's great for forts because it's spongey and can take a blast from a cannon and not buckle.

Perhaps the highlight of our time at the fort were these amazing trees!

Everyone wanted to climb them-

Our next stop was to the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum. We really enjoyed touring the museum, lighthouse and keeper's house, which is kept up beautifully. The current lighthouse (still working!) was built in 1874.

Daddy and the boys walked the 214 steps to the top to see the beautiful views. Julia got nervous 1/2 way up because of the see-through stairs and I took her back down. :)

That's the boys' hands up top!

After the lighthouse tour we drove over the beautiful Bridge of Lions into St. Augustine.

Our first stop once there was the Castillo de San Marcos! The Spanish began construction on the fort in 1672 and completed it in 1695- it's the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States.

There is only one entrance-

We were interested to learn that in 1702 about 1500 locals and soldiers were crammed into the fort during an English siege that lasted two months. The fort kept them safe as the coquina walls absorbed the English fire well. Finally reinforcements came and the Spanish were saved. In 1740 the same thing happened and again the Spanish lived to fight another day.

After lunch at a waterfront deli we decided to walk around the charming city.

There were so many fun shops to look in- we found a store called "Men's Toys and Hobbies" and a flag store too!

And we got to see the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the USA which was built by 1716.

A highlight of the walking around was visiting the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.

The interior was gorgeous and felt very Spanish with the red ceilings.

This is a depiction of the first Mass in what is now the United States. It was on September 8, 1565, by Father Francisco Lopez.

A side altar depicting the life events of St. Joseph-

Not many people know that in the 1600s there were 70 Franciscan missionaries ministering to 25,000 baptized Native Americans, and they had taught them to sing the Mass in Latin. There was a thriving faith until wars drove the Spanish out.

After our tour of the church we drove over to Mission Nombre de Dios and Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche. This is the sight where the Spanish first landed and had the first mass said in the United States. It is so beautiful and peaceful! It is named "Nombre de Dios" because Father Lopez had everyone venerate a cross and proclaim this land in the "Name of God" when they landed. His diary says-

“On Saturday the eighth the General landed with many banners spread, to the sounds of trumpets and the salutes of artillery. As I had gone ashore the evening before, I took a cross and went to meet him, singing the hymn “Te Deum Laudamus”. The General, followed by all who accompanied him, marched up to the cross, knelt and kissed it. A large number of Indians watched these proceedings and imitated all that they saw done.” - See more at: http://missionandshrine.org/father-lopez-statue/#sthash.1GtWr9a6.dpuf

Interestingly right after the landing and Mass they had a feast with the Native Americans- it's the First Thanksgiving in the United States.

Here is the Shrine- so beautiful, quaint and holy-

A statue of Father Lopez-

After this long day of seeing the history we had studied come alive we were eager to get to the beach. We spent the evening swimming and playing in the ocean. There was a very strong undertow that night so we had the children wear life jackets. :)