The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-04-20
THE SOUTH IN wINTER.-x1.

Its former glory tale long tOlo,
Stands the quaint old Spanish city.
1.-THE scene of many a hard-fought fight,
OF many a siege, when Spanish might
Was DER the land: in it's decay
1t hath beauty to live away,
That quaint old Spanish city"
Poems of Places: LOnQfettoio.
How wildly the above quotation APP
plies to this city. st. Augustine on the
Mantanzas river, separated from the
ocran by long narrow island. Anasta-
STA, the Oldest city or town in the United
States has long held for us a charm,
heightened, now we are in her midst, for
after making all due allowance for
stretches of Imagination on the part of
tourists, who find here a prolific field,
there is yet enough of the genuine to prof
itably occupy all the time one can spare.
The contrast between the old and new
parts of the town are so sharply drawn,
the cosmopolitan character of its shops
and shipping, its ancient buildings, its
huge and costly hostelies, all go towards
making ones visit, one never to be Tor
gotten.
Distances in st. Augustine are not
great All chief points of general inter
est can be found within three-quarters of
a mile and only by walking can much of
it be seen to advantage, owing to its mar
row streets. Tradition says no wheeled
vehicle was allowed in st. Augustine,
and accounts, in part, for its narrow
streets. Treasury street has been little
changed and from the balconies, two per
sons may clasp hands. The principal
streets run north and south, the cross
streets at right angles, east and west. A
sea wall was bull between 1885 and 1912
by the United States at an expense of one
hundred thousand dollars, and extends
along the water front from Fort Marion
on the north, to the United States bar
racks on the south, affording necessary
protection against the entertainments OF
the sea. 1t is built of coquina (kokena),
capped with New England granite. The
site of ST. Augustine is so low, that I'M
der certain conditions of wind and tide
the waves would inundate much of the
town. Cocuina is quarried on Anastasla
Island and is simply mass OfYery small
shells. 1t hardens upon exposure to the
atmosphere and makes very durable
wall. 1t is also fire proof 1t is inter
esting to watch building. A material
composed of sand, Portland cement and
shells is used. The shells lie loose in
masses several feet deep, and under GER
tain conditions solidify, forming coquiua.
The loose shell is brought over in car
loads to the building site, and mixed in
given proportions with sand and cement.
While soft, the composition is poured
into moulds and hardens. A wall is
built by first setting boards upon edge,
with space equal to the depth of the
wall; into this space is poured layer of
concrete, as each layer hardens, a new
one is poured in on top of it, and success
sive layers are added to any required
height. The wall is thus cast instead of
being built, when completed it is one
stone with neither seam nor joint.
On Anastasia Island, reached by ferry,
stands the light house, the lamp of which
is 1866 feet above the sea level, is reached
by eight flights of spiral staircases. The
light, technically classed as of the first
order, is fixed white and revolving or
flash light, flashing once every three
minutes, visible nineteen miles. The
lamp itself is stationary, and the actual
intensity of its flame does not change.
The variability of the light is secured by
the revolution of glass lantern provided
with series of powerful lenses or gi-
gantic bulls-eyes, each one sending out
a great beam Of light. The constant and
steady beam from each tense, revolves
with the lantern. The purpose of the
variability of the light is to render it
distinguished from other lights on the
coast Thus, while the st. Augustine
is fixed white light, varied by a flash
every three minutes, st. Johns River
light, the next one north. is fixed white
light; and the Cape Canaveral light, the
next one south, flashes every minute
The st. Augustine light is painted in
black and white spiral stripes, looking
much like a BARRIERS pole. The tower at
st. Johns River is red, that of Cape
Canaveral black and white horizontal
bands. The present st. Augustine light
house was built in 1928, to replace an
older structure.
Fortify and defend were watch words
with early settlers and the Spanish SOL
diers who founded st. Augustine, began,
from necessity rather than choice, the
erection of fortress, resulting finally in
the present Fort Marion, named in honor
of the famous Revolutionary hero, Gen
eral Francis Marion. The fort has been
dismantled, yet few old Spanish can
NON grace its frowning battlements. At
one time it took 100 guns for its complete
armament, with garrison of 1000 men.
Its strength for resisting shot and shell
has been thoroughly tested in earlier
days. 1t has never been taken, although
twice besieged and several times at
tackled. 1t is built of coquina rock. The
fort and defences of st. Augustine were
19l years in construction and cost the
Spanish Government over thirty millions
of dollars. Begun in 1865, September
9th and completed in 1855, it has under
gone many changes and to-day looks
down upon city sharing with the for
tress a cosmopolitan character. st. Au-
gustine is at the most ancient and mod
ern of towns, and the fort itself, com
composed as is, of material
rock ribbed and ancient as
the hills, as we'll as of material "up to
date" may well claim relationship with
the ancient and modern town at it's feet
To tear down and demolish has been the
rule with both foe and friend alike.
Each in turn has scourged the town and
over st. Augustine has always hung an
air of desolation and decay. The new
has always been built from the old. To
use the coquina blocks from dilapi-
dated structure was less laborious than
to hew out new material from the Anas-
tasia quarries. In this manner were de-
stroyed the coquina batteries that in old
times defended the southern line of the
town. The stone from one of them was
employed in building the Franciscan
convent, and thence it went into the
foundation of the barracks, which rose
on the convent site.