National Republican., 1883-05-08
BEAUTIFUL BUT IDLE.
Orange Groves as Rich Mans Toy Rather
Than for Profitable Business
Quaint ana Foreign 81. Augustine-A
Moorish Palace Of Coquina.

lUIeIeStcu IN newspaper accounts Oh bne IICAl-
dents southern tour, as l have but just ro-
turned from a four months sojourn in the
state of oranges, swamps, fiat pine woods
sand flies, and mosquitoes lured thither by
the gorgeous misrepresentation of different
writer's in their books on Florida -a
People who go TO Florida and invest money
thero soem to sec everything through golden
haze, but they are not practical business
mon Very fow Of that class get inveigled
into buying orange groves for profit. AS q
toy for the rich man, asa winter home for the
fancied invalid, or as an adjunct to farm or
some other business IL is all very we'll, bnt as
for a dependence it Is broken reed TO lean
upon. E
But only meant to write you little
about the recent stopping place Of our gifted
and popular chief which Is ono of the pleas
antcst spots in that sunny state. IL is gener.
ally spoken of as the oldest town in. the
United States, with narrow streets, and over
hanging balconies that almost touch, and
that Is about all we generally hear Of IL.
But 1t Is we'll worthy Of visit, for IL has
quite good many attractions and Is quaint
and foreign, what there Is of IL.
Tocoi is railway wharf, forty-nine miles
up the st. John river from Jacksonville, and
here the steamer leaves the traveller who
would visit ye ancient city. A train meets
tho steamers, and / was much amused at the
size of IL, for | had never seen narrow
gauge railway before, and IL looked like q
toy. But tho cars are clean and comfortable,
and you enjoy q pleasant ride through the
fat pine woods to tho outskirts Of the city,
occasionally passing a piece of hammock,
which looked splendid covert for deer, and
which in February was golden with the
fragrant tangles of yellow jessamine BIOS
SONS.
To reach the city from the depot you drive
a mile along sandy road and crossing
bridge which spans an arm Of the Sebastian
river enter street which is quite broad, and
Is arched with trees. On the left is the famous
Anderson orange grove, but the largest trees
now seem to have the die back, and many
have been cut down and the roots dug up and
new trees planted. On the right there are
one or two pretty winter residences, and then
| you cross a small salt marsh, on the edge of
which is being built Moorish palace Of
coquina by some ope who must be fond of a
damp cellar and mosquitoes. Going on little
farther you come to the Plaza de la Constitu-
cion, which is the center Of the town and one
| of its pleasantest features.
| 1t is small park, with we'll kept lawn and
pretty trees, especially some old cedars by the
old Spanish monument Of the constitution,
which gives the square its name. Passing on
in the square toward the water you come to
the monument erected to the memory of the
confederate dead, the first one my stalwart
eyes have ever rested on, and l was struck
especially by the fact that few rods away
stood the old slave market. These men fought
that the adjoining institution might flourish,
and both are dead.
A legend writ without word.
Both of the monuments are plain shafts,
and the market is a low, rather long building,
now used as band stand. Pass through 1t
to tho eastward, and a few steps bring you to
the center of the seawall which protects the
city from tho st. Sebastian river, which is n
long, narrow arm of the sea, which sweeps
around the narrow peninsula on which the
city is built. -
The sea wall is o mile long and has Fort
Marion at one end and an old monastery at
the other. The monastery Is now used aS,
barracks and about ninety men and officers
of the Bird artillery are stationed there. Fort
Marion, at tho other end, is very picturesque.
1t is over two hundred years since it was
commenced. 1t is a rectangular fort with
bastion at each angle and at the outer point
of each bastion is a pretty little oldopepper-
pot shaped sentry-box, which were used Is
lookouts. A moat surrounds the walls and
you enter over drawbridge The Wow Is
lovely from the top Of the wall One ,oan sde
quite over Anastatia island and watch the
blue waters of the ocean come rushing in,
breaking in long lines of foam on the shoals
aud sand spits, and 1t looks as II the channel
would be hard to find amid the broken water.
Tho top of the sea wall is tho favorite
promenade, but 1t must only be because up
there you are out of the sand, for 1t is too
narrow for two people to walk abreast or pass
each other with any degree of comfort p
The old cathedral, which stands on the
plaza, was finished by the Spaniards in 1901.
1t was built ofcoquina, and the facade Is quite
odd and pretty, having the four bells hung In
| 1t near the top, one above and three in line
below. They are proud OF them because they
are antique, which, perhaps, is commendable,
| but they sound like cracked cow bells TO tho
| nv ad a
and the interior is very plain, with only one
wretched old picture hung up high on one
side. The affairs are noticeable for their lack
| Of decoration or ornament.
The streets are narrow, One alley called
Treasury street Is only seven feet wide-that
is one part of II is that width. There are a
| good many pretty villas, about all owned by
northern people, and they have taken pains
to cultivate roses, flowers vines and, last but
not least they have lawns which are very re-
| feshing to the eye wearied with so much
sand.
Some of the old Spanish houses Of coquina
still femain and they are very picturesque,
They generally stand right on the street and
have an overhanging balcony on the second
story At tho back Is generally garden. St.
| George street is the Connecticut avenue of the
place, and il runs straight through the city.
At the northern end were the old city gates,
but now nothing remains but the ooquina
posts and sentry boxes, The Hugenot cem-
etery is small, but rather pretty. 1t is just
outside the city gates. In the Catholic Gem
etery saw something that struck me as rather
unioue-a grave bordered with beer bottles,
driven neck downward into che sand.
The Sebastian river is an ideal place for
boating and fishing, after you have soaked in
oil of pennyroyal to keep of the sand hies-
not that we ever caught any large fish or saw
any that had been caught, but we caught
plenty of yellow tails, sheep head, whiting,
and weak fish, and heard splendid yarns
from the fishermen, and we enjoyed eating
the delicious shrimps and oysters that came
out Of the river.
The city has about 1000 inhabitants, the
majority being Minorcans, with q sprinklinR
of French and Spanish, the remainder settlers
from the north and west.
While we were there the annual regatta OF
tho st. Augustine yacht club took place. The
club has nice little house beside one of the
three wharves of the city, consisting OF
TWO rooms and u broad piazza There
are only q few regular members, and
a very few of those own boats
of any kind, 80 they offer prizes for the boat
men In the harbor to compete for, and thus
get up very nice little regatta. a There were
to have been four races, but the Wind blow SC
strongly from the northeast that two were
postponed. Most of the guests remained in.
DOORS occasionally Venturing outside for Q
little while, when they would return to the
fire we'll chilled and console themselves with
conversation, strawberries and ice cream.
Occasionally we met with an aggravated
case of loss through too much faith in orange
groves; as for instance, gentleman in st
Augustine, who went to Indian river ant