City Guide: St Augustine, Florida
Located in the northern part of Florida, St Augustine has the distinction of being known as the oldest continually occupied European settlement in North America. It was founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez and his soldier and colonists, fifty years after Ponce de Leon claimed the area now known as Florida for Spain in the…
Playing “I Spy” at Victoria Mansion in Portland, Maine
Ruggles Sylvester Morse and his wife Olive Ring Merrill Morse were prominent New Orleans hotel proprietors in the 1850s when they decided to leave the summer heat of the South and build a house in Portland, Maine. The house, built in the Italian Villa style, was finished in 1860 and the couple lived there until…
Playing “I Spy” at the Flagler Museum on Palm Beach Island, Florida
We recently spent time exploring St. Augustine Florida, a city that Henry Flagler basically built after the start of his 1912 Florida East Coast Railway and subsequent hotels, hospitals, schools, churches, and farms. (Read more about our adventures in St. Augustine in these posts. So, it was fitting when we also traveled to the West…
5 Ways to Explore the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine, Florida
The oldest masonry fort in the United States, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument was built from 1672 to 1695 (with various interrupted breaks due to disease and conflict) to guard St Augustine, the first permanent European settlement, from both pirates and English troops. The fort was made from local coquina shell stone quarried in…
10 Ways to Explore Alligator Park in St. Augustine, Florida
We’re not a huge zoo family, but every guide we read about St Augustine, Florida, as well as a couple of fellow travel writers, all suggested visiting Alligator Farm Zoological Park. So, on our recent visit to St. Augustine, we started one of our mornings at the park and agreed it’s a special place the…
Playing “I Spy” at the Lightner Museum in St Augustine, Florida
One of the surprise hits of our recent trip to St Augustine, Florida was our visit to the Lightner Museum. We had heard it was beautiful, but we were unsure if it would be family friendly. Secret’s out: it is! (Just keep the toddler crew contained in a stroller when exploring the glass rooms). The…