Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-04-05
THE OLDEST HOUSE
In the United States is At st. Angus


{Frances Arnold in New York Even
ing Post)
The oldest house in the United
States is now standing at ST. Angus
tine, Fla Not only is this venerable
piece of architecture of sufficient age
to attract lovers OF antiquity and stu
dents of history, but it is Of sufficient
mysticism to allure the less serious
minded for 1t romantically offers the
visitor Of today the use of it's wishing
we'll and its magic bell.
When Pedro Menendez came to the
New World in 1865 to found a settle
ment in the Ponce de Leon famed
Land of Flowers, he brought with
him from Spain more than two thous-
and people, among whom were twenty
seven monks.
This house was built for the monks
and was their worshiping place and
living quarters for twenty-five years.
Their sleeping spaces were cells in the
rooms on the second floor, the ceilings
of which-and the visitor is told they
are the, original-are inlaid with little
blocks of wood, so cut and arranged as
to form q coffin shaped design. 1t is
said the good monks slept nightly in
coffins, SO as to keep thought of death
always before them. Death alone,
they reasoned is free from sin.
Built of SheIlstone
Built of coquin, a stohe which Ma
ture fashioned in abundance along the
Florida coast from broken shells
which according to present day re-
quirements, is not very serviceable, it
victorious!y has withstood $50 years Of
exposure to the weather, seven Eng
lish attacks, conducted by the best
known methods Of their time, and five
Indian massacres. Moreover, to it's
credit, it is recorded that when that
bold explorer Sir Francis Drake at
tackled the city Of st. Augustine in
1872 this little old house, then quite
new, was the only building not de-
stroyed. It was the only one built Of
coquina.
A few years ago, when it became
necessary to repair a portion Of the
rear wall, cannon ball was found
embedded within it, supposed to have
lodged there when the English unsuc-
cessfully besleged the town under
Governor Oglethorpe Of Georgia in the
summer of 1740. For forty days the
English fired their guns from warships
in the harbor and then retired.
The rear of the oldest house opens
upon dreamy, fanciful garden which
still retains much Of the atmosphere
Of the old Spanish days and is made
more mystical by the presence Of a
wishing we'll which the Franciscan
monks themselves blessed. The visit
or is told that II he will peer stead
fastly into it's depths and while so do
ing wish three times, each wish will
he duly fuIfilled.
A Magic Bell.
And still more uias sic is busy at the
oldest house. In the narrow entrance
hall bell is suspended from the CELL
ing, not hanging directly over the
| pathway that one would naturally
take TO enter the next room, but a lit
tie to one side. According to best au-
thority, it brings marriage within
year to every unmarried person pass
ing beneath it, but a divorce to any
one married Just how the mysteri-
Gus influences which 80 to make up
the destinies of mankind got into the
bell is as inexplicable as the existence
of mankind, but there is the care
takers assurance that people who
stand under it come back later and
say-it happened to them.