Our last tour day in St. Augustine we took a tour of Anastasia Island. On the north end is the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum. The grounds are comprised of the lighthouse, the caretakers' house, the welcome center/gift shop, a garden area, and a maintenance area. This is a view of the lighthouse from the parking area.
play area
There is a little walking path from the back of the gift shop that winds around the garden area. This is the first unobstructed view of the lighthouse.
The path has info plaques scattered around it. The downstairs of the lighthouse storage rooms for uniforms and equipment. Every day the keeper had to lug a five gallon can of warmed oil (over 40 lbs.) up 219 stepsto the top before it got cold. Every keeper in every picture is thin, of course. The keepers, in addition to tending the lighthouse, had to maintain signal buoys and channel markers, and attempted to rescue shipwrecked sailors. The keepers' families lived with them the wives did the household chores and grounds maintainance. They and children over age 12 were requird to know how to run the site in the absence of the keepers.
view from bottom to top. Every round of steps ended in a landing with info plaques so we could catch our breath.
Views from the top--140 feet up.
Looking down on the keepers house. The house was divided in the middle to house the keeper and his assistant. The two little buildings on either side are kitchens. The one on the left is now a little snack bar, the one on the right is restrooms. Built in the 1870's, the lighthouse and keeper's house are restored to their late 19th century appearance.
From halfway down to the bottom.
Livingroom in house.
Andiron
Chock full of knowledge from our lighthouse tour we jumped on the bike and rode to the south end of the island. We entered Fort Matanzas National Monument just in time to get aboard the shuttle.
The fort sits on Rattlesnake Island across the Matanzas inlet. Matanzas Inlet was the scene of crucial events in the Spanish colonial history. The massacre of French soldiers here in 1565 was Spain's opening move in establishing a colony in Florida. The construction of Ft. Matanzas (means massacre in Spanish) in 1740-42 was Spain's last effort to ward off British encroachments on St. Augustine. The fort protected St. Augustine's back door.
Needlefish
Notice the Spanish colonial flag. The fort is 50' square with a 30 ft tower--a mini Castillo. It was built to house 50 men during a crisis, but usually housed a crew of 7 for a month at a time. The fort could cover the inlet with five guns, all reaching the inletless than 1/2 mile away in 1742. The fort warned St. Augustine of enemy vessels, and served as a rest stop, coast guard station and a place where vessels heading for St. Augustine could get advice on navigating the river. Its primary mission was to maintain control of Mantanzas Inlet. After thwarting British attempts to gain the inlet in 1742, the fort never again fired its guns in battle.
It's called Rattlesnake Island for a reason. Before we left the shuttle one of the rangers perused the area for us.
View of Anastasia Island.
our shuttle
Wild oysters....lol I wonder where the tame are. Duane thought this sign was hilarious.
After we got back from the fort we toured the visitors' center/gift shop/theater then took the 1/2 mile trail walk.
The trouble that led to the massacre was that the French established a colony and fort upriver from the Spanish. The French tried to attack Spanish by sea, but a hurricane carried his ships too far south. At the same time the Spanish let an attach on Ft. Caroline which they easily captured. They then marched down the shore and captured the returning French soldiers. They were urged to surrender but were later slain. Two weeks later more French soldiers were found and killed. The question remains whether these were revengeful acts motivated by religion (Spanish Catholic vs Protestant French) or, because of low food supplies and winter looming, simply a necessity for the Spanish colony's survival.
About in the middle of Anastasia Is. is the St. Augustine Beach access. We stopped here to walk in the sand, feel the ocean breeze, and hear the rollers breaking. The wind was actually picking up and blew for the next two days. The water was unsafe for swimming for the next couple of days because of rip tides.
You'll notice that the sand isn't exactly white, but a light tan. Word has it that a storm wiped out the beach and sand had to be imported to rebuild the beach.
Back home I couldn't resist taking a picture of this gorgeous magenta 'weed' growing in the brush behind our house. I think it is called beauty berry.
Next, Astor
Louise and Duane
1 comment:
What a wonderful blog. I love lighthouses. Paul and I had so much fun visiting them in Oregon and Washington. This one looks great.
That Needlefish is so cool. I have never seen one of those before.
Now for a comment on the beach photo. I clicked on it to enlarge it. YES, exactly what I thought. You may be looking at the tan sand but did you notice that girl lying on the beach. She must have ten tattoos. Not very attractive to me.
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