The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1898-02-04
ANCIENT ST. AUGUSTINE.
This Charm Of Its Quiet Life and Old
Time Qualntness Gives Way to
Fashionable Life. 3

in u fancitul strain of St: Augustine.
likening the town to bit of Spanish
soil broken away from its home moor.
ings. which had foated across the
sea and standing here on the shores
Of the western world, had transplant
ed its Spanish antecedents and trans
ferred the life and habits Of the An
dalusians, unmixel with newer re-
lations, unchanged in its typical
characteristics. But the St. Angus
tine of today wears different aspect;
very little remains of that quaintness
and charm which had distinguished
it up to even dozen years ago and
had been the legacy Of its long mis-
tory Of vicissitudes under Spanish
rule. Where the white walls of
coquina stone sheltered the patio
from the inluisitiveness of the mar
row street, there is today the modern
hotel and the curiosity shop. The
brick paved calle which served alike
the pedestrian and the rider, has be.
come broadened to the uses Of the
vociferous colored hackman and his
party of tourists in contradiction to
the old days of St. Augustine, when
no wheeled vehicles were allowed in
her streets. The picturesqueness Of
street nomenclature has even disap-
peared, the Tolomato street of the
early century has become the Cor
dova street of the fashionable today
the English occupation of twenty
years. 1763-S3, created St. George
and Charlotte streets, named in honor
of England's patron saint and the
queen Of George the Third. Happily
the onward march has left unchanged
the names of few lanes, still true to
their Spanish characteristics. such as
Cuna and Hypolita streets. From
the standpoint of European settle
ment. ST. Augustine is the oldest
city in America. When Florida was
America, St. Augustine was Florida.
Ponce dc Leon had heard from the
natives of the Spanish settlement in
the West Indies of the great land to
the northwest and of its tabled foun-
tain of youth. The romance connected
with this story is that Ponce de Leon,
being man IF many years, but
bachelor. had fallen in love with his
ward, a young woman of rare beauty
and grace, and in order to win her
heart he wished to seek out the foun-
tain and regain his youthful beauty.
lie returned to Spain and fitted out
an expedition, sailing for the un
known. and on April 8, 1912. he
discovered the peninsula of Florida,
landing. it is claimed, at the point
which afterward became St. Angus
tine. Although unsuccessful in his
quest of the wondrous fountain and
meeting with death, which followed
from wound received from pois-
oned arrow in fight with the abort
gines, the fame of Ponce de Leon as
navigator, discoverer and warrior has
not diminished during the quartet Of
centuries which has followed and to
this day his name is probably more
famous in this land of the flowors than
that of his king.
No permanent settlement was made
at that time nor during the fifty odd
years that followed, although casual
excursions were made to the shores
by the colonist of the Spanish settle.
ments in the Astilles. In the spring
of 1865 Pedro Mendez founded St.
Augustine and planted colony un
der the banner of King Philip II Of
Spain.
He found a rude Indian council
house just opposite the entrance to
the lag' on like harbor, and this spot,
now Fort Marion, he and his follow.
ers to this day have utilized as forti-
fiation.
ST. Augustine is on narrow neck
OF land formed by the Bay of Man
tanzas and its tributary, the San Sc
bas,ian river. Opposite and across
the bay is Anastasia Island, fronting
Shell roads, white and hard, reach
out through lying lands covered with
a thick almost impenetrable growth
of palms, with stately pines and beau
tful palmct,os rising high above
The air is filled with the pleasant
fragrance of the pine and the rustic
Of tic palm leaves on the Atlantic.
Those who frequent the east coast
of Florida arc fond of terming it the
American Riviera, and to ascribe to
st. Augustine all the glories and
unlnndnr nfn Nnwnnrf cr Cnnnps III