Mower County transcript., 1893-05-03
OLD ST. AUGUSTINE,
An Interesting Account of Its Narrow
s Streets and the Old Houses
50 and Forts. %
The Magnificent Ponce de Leon Hotel in
it's Marvellous Furnishings and
Accommodations. ~.
ORANGE PARK, Fla, April Is, 1898.

r., u ! :
ORANGE PARK. Fla, April %, 1898.
Leaving Palatka. at noon, in a deluge
of rain we crossed the st. Johns on the
long white railroad bridge, and were
soon speeding for St. Augustine on the
coast, arriving there at 1:30 p. m, and
found the streets washed as clean as
table, the asphalt pavements as smooth
as marble. The quaint old city" is
rightly named, and it requires more than
letter to describe its beauty and quaint
ness. 1t. IS situated on the Atlantic
coast, 80 miles south of Jacksonville,
and is reached by the St. Augustine &
Indian River railroad, now extended on
to Rockledge, over 100 miles farther
south, and by next fall will reach Lake
Worth, southeast of Okeechabie, which
is in the everglades. and still another 100
miles south, and situated on the far
famed Indian River.
| Grand old St. Augustine, had l the
power TO describe thee as thou art-but
that is impossible. The beautiful pave
ments. noble trees, tropical gardens with
their myriads of flowers, shrubs and
plants SO artistically arranged, and IN full
foliage the year around; the laundering
waves, breaking white capped on the
matchless beach on Amastasia Island;
the ponderous light house, with its
| electric flash light cleaning oyer the
| tn Co ho h;
less way; the scores of sail boats fitting
here and there like white winged sea
gulls; the great sea wall, mile long,
with It's granite top wide enough for two
to walk abreast and view the bay. island.
beach and ocean beyond; a beautiful
| promenade.
Grim old Fort Marion, with it's gray
battlements and look out towers, built in
the early Spanish days of Florida; the
dungeons and council rooms, chapel and
court rooms. Oh, could but those walls
tell their own history; the pleasures and
pride, dark secrets and mlseries OF the
| past what history it would be.
But very recently walled up dun
geon has been discovered under the
northeast look out tower in which were
| found two iron cages, chained to the
wall, IN which were two human skeletons,
| those of a man and woman. When
i placed there. by whom, what for, history
| does rot state. Some awful secret, dead
| to the world. We can but imagine,
never know. Here for more than go
years the Seminole Indians were forced
to work on this fort under their cruel
task masters, the Spaniards. The works
and moat are immense and vastly strong,
showing great engineering skill, and
coyer many acres. The old battered
walls show thousands of bullet holes,
| dents in the coquina stone from many
sieges that it has withstood. Scattered
around are score of old Spanish can
non, and the late Columbiads of the
Americans. These, and many other
things, all help to awe and inspire the
visitor with wonder.
The city gates to the west of the fort,
some 30 rods, built of coquina, and so
old that there seems to be no record of
when or by whom built, but evidently a
| part of the north defenses of the old
city. They are very interesting, with
their cell like sentinel boxes built IN the
solid walls with loop holes commanding
| the road. The cap stones to the two
towers are half worn away by relentless
| time.
The narrow streets and old fashioned
! Spanish houses seem very odd and out of
place to us. Some streets are only to 9
| feet wide. The houses are more like
little forts, built for strength, not beauty.
with small suffered windows and single
doors, with not the least attempt at or
namentation or finish.
The stone market, Confederate monu,
ment, fountains, and the old Catholic
cathedral, and queer fashioned bells of
$50 years ago must be seen to be appre-
ciated. as to describe them is not in my
power.
The Catholic cemetery in the heart of
the city with tomb stones of 200 years
ago; the government cemetery and bar
racks; Dades' monuments; and many
other objects of interest should be seen
to be understood. ...-,
| For hotels St. Augustine is better pro
vided than any city in America for the
size Of the city. and the capital runs
away up into the millions. The Ponce
de Leon is the leading hotel, and to de-
scribe. its grandeur is. utterly impossible
for the writer, and have not met one
who would admit that he, could do it
Justice. 1t is built in the style Of the
;early Spanish renaissance. What strikes
Jus first is its vast size and then its pictur-
gesque outlines The eye travels from
the gateway in the center of the one
story portico up to the high walls Of the
main part of the building UP to the great
dome, surmounted by its beautiful Ian
tern, and finally on and up to the huge
corner towers that rise $50 feet into the