Castle Warden, Ripley's Original Odditorium

*Originally published May 1, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing

There are 33 Ripley's Believe It or Not! museums across North America, but did you know that none of them were opened during Robert Ripley's lifetime? Or that the original and first odditorium is located in St. Augustine, Florida? My first visit to a Ripley's Odditorium was during my most recent trip to the Oldest City, and it piqued my curiosity about the history of the building and of Ripley himself.

Castle Warden, shown above, was built in 1887 by William G. Warden of Philadelphia as a winter home. It's an imposing four stories of poured concrete Moorish revival architecture. Warden himself was partners with Henry Flagler and John D. Rockefeller in the Standard Oil Company, the president of the St. Augustine Gas & Electric Light Company, and the financial director of the St. Augustine Improvement Company. Because of Warden's wealth and influence, the castle home was a center of winter social events during his life and ownership.

The castle remained in the Warden family until 1941 until it was purchased by Norman Baskin and his wife Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of "The Yearling" and "Cross Creek." The couple lived on the top floor of the castle for a time, and renovated the lower floors into a posh hotel. It was during this time that Robert Ripley stayed at the hotel several times, repeatedly attempting to buy the hotel. He was unsuccessful in his endeavors before he died in 1949, but his estate was able to purchase Castle Warden in 1950, and on December 25, the first and original Ripley's Believe it or Not! Odditorium opened its doors.

Robert Ripley was born in Santa Rosa, California around 1890. He dropped out of school to support his family when his father died, and at age 16 he was drawing sports cartoons for San Francisco newspapers. In 1913, he moved to New York and continued his career as a sports cartoonist, and in 1918 he showcased some sports oddities in his first Believe It or Not! cartoon. 

His cartoons grew in popularity, and by 1923, his Believe It or Not! series moved to the New York Post. In 1929, his feature was picked up by King Features Syndicate, and Believe It or Not! began appearing in more than 300 newspapers across the United States.

Ripley claimed to have visited 198 countries in his lifetime. He showcased "true life" oddities from his travels around the world in his books of sketches, a series of Believe It or Not! short films, radio programs, and travelling carnival-type exhibits that he called "Odditoriums."

The Castle Warden Odditorium is a must-see, and I'm ashamed to say that I visited St. Augustine a number of times before making it a stop on our last trip. You won't be disappointed. Starting with the grounds outside the castle, there are a number of things to check out which don't require the price of admission, which include: Massacre Anchor, which was pulled from Matanzas Bay; a section of tree that when it was cut down, was carved into an apartment, where someone actually lived (you can walk inside); a giant bronco made out of car bumpers; and Michaelangelo's "David," one of the only two copies in the world carved to the exact specifications of the original.

The museum itself houses three stories of curious and unusual exhibits from around the world, including Robert Ripley's personal collection. You'll find unusual artwork crafted from unlikely materials, like jelly beans, toasted bread, and even beetles; fortune telling machines including Zoltar, like the one from "Big" with Tom Hanks; shrunken heads; two-headed animals; torture devices; P.T. Barnum's 1842 hoax, the Feejee Mermaid; and so much more than I could begin to mention here. On my last visit there was a very large, very real, very alive tarantula (in an enclosed container, of course) which I would be extremely happy never to see again, although my stepson seemed significantly less bothered by its presence.

As if all this weren't enough, Castle Warden also has its own ghost story, like so many other places in the Oldest City. On April 23, 1944, two women died in a fire on the the 3rd and 4th floors. As the story goes, the fire started on the 3rd floor due to a lit cigarette. The occupant in Room 17 called for a bellboy who emptied a fire extinguisher and went to find another. By the time he returned, the flames were coming from under the door and had spread to the hallway and up to the 4th floor. The women were both killed, but their bodies were untouched by the flames as a result of their using wet towels to protect themselves from the fumes. The woman in Room 17 was found in her bathtub, and the woman in the 4th floor penthouse was found on the floor of her bathroom. The women are said to haunt the castle.

In addition to regular museum tours, Ripley's also runs the Red Train Tour with stops all over St. Augustine, as well as a Haunted Castle Investigation experience. All of this information as well as booking options are available on their website.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium

19 San Marco Avenue

St. Augustine, FL 32084

904-824-1606

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The Old City Gate, a Reminder of St. Augustine's Violent Past

*Originally published May 5, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing.

Located at the north end of St. George Street, the Old City Gate still stands, a remnant of the past, a reminder of the turbulence the city has faced in the past. At one time, the gate was the only entrance into the city.

In 1702, British Governor James Moore and his English forces attacked the city. The residents had advance notice and took refuge inside Castillo de San Marcos for safety. The British were unable to breach the walls of the fort, and both sides sent for reinforcements. The Spanish reinforcements from Havana arrived first, and Governor Moore was forced to retreat. However, before he left, he and his forces pillaged the city and burned it to the ground.

Though the residents had survived the siege in the fort, and the city had been attacked in the past, the residents of St. Augustine saw this attack as "the straw that broke the camel's back." In 1704 construction was begun on the Cubo Line, an earthen and wood wall that ran from the Castillo to the San Sebastian River and back to the city. 

An additional wall was erected on the west side of the city, the Rosario Line. The two walls enclosed the city, and it was never devastated by an attack again.

Because the wall was made primarily of earth, it deteriorated over time. The wall was regularly rebuilt and repaired over more than a century. At the time of the last reconstruction, in 1808, the city gate was built of coquina, and it remains today.

In addition to their historic value, there is, of course, a ghost story tied to the gate, as with many locations around the city. St. Augustine had its bouts with yellow fever, and although the gate and the walls could keep out trespassers and enemy forces, they couldn't repel disease. 

In the 1800s, if you or your family was believed to have yellow fever, your home and possessions were burned in an attempt to prevent the spread. "Little Elizabeth" died of yellow fever in 1821. Her body went unclaimed, possibly because her family feared losing their home and possessions, and she was found by officials just outside the city gate. She was one of hundreds of people who fell victim to the sickness who were buried in the Huguenot Cemetery across the street from the gate. People claim to have seen Little Elizabeth playing here outside the city gate in her lacy white dress.

Old City Gate

11 Orange Street

St. Augustine, FL  32084

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The Haunted History at the Old Jail in St. Augustine

*Originally published June 13, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing.

 In 1878, oil magnate and industrialist Henry Flagler left New York with his ailing wife and headed to Jacksonville. On doctor's orders, they were advised to leave the climate of Manhattan for warmer, milder Florida so that Mary Flagler could try to recover from tuberculosis. Sadly, she didn't survive the trip. Shortly after her death, he remarried and moved about 35 miles further south to St. Augustine. He found the area beautiful and full of possibilities for tourism, but severely lacking in accommodations. He began making large real estate investments, including his flagship hotel, the Hotel Ponce de Leon (now Flagler College).

The city jail at that time was not only an eyesore, but it was within view from one of Flagler's hotels. He knew that his rich guests wouldn't want to see the jail while they were vacationing, and that its presence outside their hotel room windows could diminish their experience in such a charming city. Furthermore, he feared that such an unpleasant looking building would discourage his high profile friends from investing in St. Augustine. So, in 1891, Flagler contracted with the company that would eventually build Alcatraz to construct what is now known as the "Old Jail." It was built just north of downtown on San Marco Avenue, and disguised so as not to appear to be a jail from its outward appearance.

Listed in the National Registry of Historic Places, the jail was built to look like a hotel in the Romanesque Revival Style. It was painted an unassuming color. The walls were over 20 feet tall and so thick that no sound could transcend the cells and be heard by outside ears. Aside from the bars on the windows, no one passing by would ever have known it was a jail.

The conditions inside and what transpired within this beautiful Victorian building, however, earned the Old Jail its reputation as one of the most haunted spots in the city.

The jail not only housed both male and female inmates, it was also the home of the sheriff and his family. It was the city's only jail for more than 60 years, remaining open and operational until 1953.

While the sheriff's quarters were quite comfortable and well appointed with all the necessary comforts of the day for him and his family, the inmates' cells were a far cry from that. By today's standards, they would be considered unlivable for humans.

The windows didn't have any glass or protection from the outdoor elements - just the bars needed to prevent the prisoners from escaping.

The concrete and metal of the cells made for a very cold, very stern environment.

No blankets or pillows were provided. The mattresses were stuffed with Spanish Moss, so they were often infested with bugs. There were no bathing facilities or sanitation for human waste, so the inmates couldn't bathe and there was a constant stench that could not be eliminated.

The maximum security cells were located at the back of the building, equipped with stockades, a torture cell, and a clear view of the execution area. The solitary confinement cell didn't even have a bed.

There was much sickness and death in the Old Jail, far beyond the executions that took place there. There were eight reported hangings on the site, as well as many other unnatural deaths.

In truth, the inmates who were incarcerated there were the worst of the worst. Many did not survive their sentences. Although they were horrific people who had committed horrific crimes, the treatment they received at the hands of their jailers was often less than humane, including beatings, tortures, and starvation.

Paranormal researchers believe that these events caused the spirits of some of the inmates to linger within the Old Jail, resulting in the many mysterious and inexplicable events that happen today.

Some reported paranormal experiences include:

~ People who live near the jail as well as tour guests report hearing the sounds of footsteps walking around inside.

~ Visitors and workers have reported the aroma of sewage in the air although there is none to be found.

~ Although there are no longer any dogs living at the Old Jail, there are reports of dogs barking.

~ Tour guests have reported hearing voices in the cells and hallways, as well as the sounds of wailing and moaning coming from the maximum security and solitary confinement areas.

~ Some visitors have reported hearing the voice of a little girl coming from the sheriff's quarters.

~ There have been accounts of people people feeling like a cold hand is touching their shoulder, as well as the sensation that someone is pulling at their hair or blowing on them as they walk by.

Today, the Old Jail has been renovated to give tourists a glimpse into the daily lives of St. Augustine's most notorious prisoners and what it was like for them living under the penal system of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Costumed actors tell the stories of the jail and its inmates as you tour the space and examine the collection of weapons and artifacts. It is one of the few prisons of its kind still standing today. "The Old Jail After Dark" is a 45 minute experience that allows visitors to participate in an actual paranormal investigation at the Old Jail. Tickets are available at Old Town Trolley Tours.

If one of your reasons for visiting St. Augustine is the paranormal experience, like it is for us, this place needs to be on your list of tourist stops, and I would even recommend taking not only the daytime tour, but the "after dark" tour as well to get the full experience.

The Old Jail of St. Augustine

167 San Marco Ave.

St. Augustine, FL  32084

904-829-3800

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St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum

*Originally published June 14, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse and Keeper's House serve as both a scenic attraction and a maritime museum. Still an active aid to navigation on the North Florida coast, the Lighthouse and Maritime Museum is a private, non-profit museum dedicated to its mission "to preserve, present, and keep alive the stories of the Nation's Oldest Port as symbolized by our working St. Augustine Lighthouse."

Standing 165 feet above sea level, the Lighthouse overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and Matanzas Bay from Anastasia Island. Visitors can climb the 219 steps to the top of the Lighthouse for an incredible view of the city of St. Augustine and the ocean.

You'll have the opportunity to experience life at a Light Station through the exhibits at the Keeper's House, stroll through the grounds, check out the gift shop, or take a "Behind the Scenes" guided tour, included with admission.

"Behind the Scenes" tours are offered on the hour from 11am to 3pm every day. It showcases the important role the Light Station has played in St. Augustine's history, and provides a look at the research and preservation going on at the newly opened Maritime Archaeology and Education Center. The Museum itself is an American Alliance of Museums accredited institution, and a Smithsonian Affiiliate.

Additional specialty tours are offered, including the "Dark of the Moon" guided paranormal tour, the Lens Room Tour, and the Sunset/Moonrise dinner and drinks experience at the top of the lighthouse. Additional information and the opportunity to make reservations for any of the specialty tours is available on their website.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse has a long and storied history, beginning in the late 1500s when it was a simply a wooden watchtower used to protect the Spanish settlement from invaders and to direct Spanish ships and traders to their port. The simple flame atop the wooden tower was too weak to effectively signal ships, and served more as an accompaniment to the soldier on watch.

This first watchtower was burned to the ground by Sir Francis Drake during an attack in 1586.

It was nearly 100 years later, in 1683, when a coquina tower was build on the site from the ruins of a stone chapel. This first lighthouse, shown here, lasted 200 years until shoreline erosion caused it to fall into the sea in 1880. Due to the erosion, the current tower was built further inland in 1874, six years before the first tower fell.

The current Lighthouse is St. Augustine's oldest surviving brick structure. The Keeper's House that sits next to it was built in 1876 to provide living quarters for the families of those who kept watch, and now serves as the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum.

During World War II, the men and women of the Coast Guard trained in St. Augustine, and used the Lighthouse as a lookout post for enemy ships and submarines that frequented the coast.

After the war, during the 1960s, the Keeper's House was rented out to local residents, as there was no longer any need for a keeper to live on the grounds since the Lighthouse was fully electric and automated.

Over the decades following WWII, the Lighthouse unfortunately fell into disrepair, and in 1970 a fire nearly completely destroyed the Keeper's House.

In 1981, after years of neglect and vandalism, the Junior Service League of St. Augustine had the Lighthouse listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. They worked tirelessly to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, financing a restoration effort that brought the Lighthouse and Keeper's House back to their former glory.

During its years of closure, the light continued to shine through the night, and after 14 years and $1.2 million toward restoration, including restoration of the original Fresnel lens, the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum is an impeccably beautiful example of Florida's maritime history.

Of course no story about such an historic location in St. Augustine would be complete without a ghost story or two, and the Lighthouse is no exception:

~ Peter Rasmussen, one of the first lighthouse keepers, was known for his love of cigars, and over the years, the smell of cigars has been detected by many staff members and guests.

~ Some claim to have seen and heard keeper Joseph Andreu at the top of the tower, the place where he fell to his death while painting the outside of the tower.

~ Perhaps the most well known ghosts of the Lighthouse were two young sisters who died on the property. Their father was hired to renovate the tower in the late 1800s. The girls were playing in a cart used to bring materials back and forth to the Lighthouse. When it broke loose, they weren't able to jump free in time and the cart slid quickly into the bay, plummeting both girls to a watery death. Since then, the girls can be heard laughing late at night, and some claim to have seen one of the girls wearing the same blue dress she died in.

~ Staff members often say they lock the door at the top of the tower each night before leaving, only to find it open when they arrive in the morning for work.

~ Staff also report chairs having been moved or overturned, as well as items from the gift shop being moved or missing only to reappear later.

~ Music boxes have been known to turn on by themselves.

There's so much more history to the Lighthouse than I've included here to be learned from a visit and tour. We personally love the paranormal tours, and though many of the "ghost tours" in St. Augustine are kid-friendly, the Museum recommends that for this particular paranormal experience, children under the age of 13 should not participate. 

Regardless which tour you choose, you should definitely check out this historic landmark while you're in the Old City.

St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum

100 Red Cox Drive

St. Augustine, FL  32080

904-829-0745

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The Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse in the USA

*Originally published as a promotional piece on June 16, 2021. Some information may be missing.

Dating back to the early 18th century the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse is located at the north end of St. George Street in St. Augustine, not far from the City Gate. None of the wooden structures built in the city before 1702 still stand, because the British burned Spanish St. Augustine to the ground that year. As a result, the earliest property records for the schoolhouse date to 1740.

The original structure consisted of a one room, single story building with a detached kitchen, made of wood siding with a coquina chimney, where food was prepared for the family. Kitchens were commonly separate structures in those times, not only to keep the house cool during the hot summer months, but also to prevent any kitchen fires from spreading to the residential areas of the home.

The exterior of the house was made of bald cypress and red cedar bound together by wood pins and iron spikes, all made by hand.

In addition to the separate kitchen, there was a privy with a privacy wall and a well, all with easy access though the back door of the house. 

The garden area behind the hoe was used to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices. Water for cooking and drinking was drawn from the old well in this backyard garden space.

In 1768, the Minorcans, poor islanders from the Meditteranean, came to Florida as indentured servants on a plantation in New Smyrna. After 9 years enduring much mistreatment on the plantation, the survivors found refuge 70 miles north in St. Augustine during the British occupation of the city. They were allowed to settle on the north end of St. George Street just inside the City Gate, remaining there when the Spanish took the city again and when Florida joined the United States in 1821.

Jesse Fish, a land broker who represented the property interests of the fleeing Spanish officers and residents after the British took possession of Florida, sold the home to Juan Genopoly, a Minorcan refugee, on October 1, 1780.

Genopoly got married and established a homestead there, maintained by the Genopoly family for over a century.  He added a second story to the home for use as family living quarters, as well as an additional smaller room at the back of the first floor to serve as a family sitting room.

The main room of the house was transformed into a coed school in 1788, where Genopoly became its first teacher. He recognized the importance of learning English, and invited the children of the Minorcan Quarter to the school to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Two of the four children born in St. Augustine to Juan Genopoly and his wife also taught at the old school. The last class at the school was in attendance in 1864.

Juan Genopoly was rather progressive for the times in which he lived, as the school was the first coed school in the United States, allowing attendance by boys and girls alike.

Visitors today can examine copies of old textbooks and school supplies from the 18th century, and tour the kitchen and gardens, where a bountiful pecan tree has been growing for an estimated 250 years.

From the front exterior on St. George Street, you'll see a large chain wrapped around the house attached to an enormous anchor. It was added in 1937 to hold the house in place in case of hurricane force winds and weather.

Recent maintenance has been done to replace the roof, among other fixes, but great care is always taken to maintain the authenticity of the schoolhouse.

As with nearly every one of the old structures in a city with so much history, there have been many reports of paranormal occurrences on the property. The old well in the garden has been the central figure of many strange happenings. Research through archival records have revealed stories of deaths and strange events on the property.

Ghost Tours of St. Augustine offers professionally guided paranormal investigations of the schoolhouse. We haven't gone on this tour yet ourselves, but every ghost tour we've enjoyed has included a stop by the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse to detail some of its interesting history.

 

Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse

14 St. George Street

St. Augustine, FL  32084

904-824-0192

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Spirit Central: The Huguenot Cemetery of St. Augustine

*Originally published June 16, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing. 

A visit to one of the most haunted cities in the country wouldn't be complete without visiting its famed cemeteries. Established soon after Florida became a US territory, the Huguenot Cemetery is in a high traffic area of downtown St. Augustine, just outside the Visitor Center and across the street from the Old City Gate.

It was first used for the interment of victims of the 1821 yellow fever epidemic, then for burial of members of the city's Protestant population. The burial traditions and funerary materials demonstrated at Huguenot, compared with the nearby Tolomato Cemetery (established by the Catholic Church in 1777), highlight both the differences and commonalities in funerary and religious practices and traditions of the two distinct groups residing in 19th century St. Augustine.

The Huguenot Cemetery's primary significance is derived from the fact that it was the first cemetery in St. Augustine dedicated for Anglo-American civilians rather than preserved strictly for members of the Catholic faith.

The grave markers at Huguenot display a range of the funerary art popular in the 19th century, including finely carved headstones by skilled stone masons popular in the 1820s-40s, false box tombs with inscribed ledgers, and elaborate monuments that were in favor during the Victorian period.

The work of several prominent stone carvers from the southeastern US has been identified at the cemetery, among them Thomas Walker, as well as members of the White family, who had shops in Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina.

The cemetery property was sold to the Presbyterian Church in 1832, and they have maintained ownership and care of the land since then.

By the late 19th century overcrowding of graves, along with the resulting concerns for sanitation and public health, resulted in the closing of the small public  and religious burial grounds of St. Augustine. New cemeteries, including the San Lorenzo and Evergreen, were subsequently opened to parishioners and the public.

After the cemetery was closed to burials in 1884, the church continued maintenance of the grounds. Some restoration efforts were made in 1946 and again in 1951.

It eventually became necessary to keep the cemetery gates locked and to restrict visitation to the site. While this kept the property relatively secure from vandalism and theft, natural weathering and deterioration of the grave markers continued.

Since 1989, organizations associated with the Presbyterian Church and dedicated to the preservation of the cemetery have been formed and have continued to work tirelessly to keep the grounds in shape and to keep alive the memory of the approximately 436 people buried within the cemetery grounds.

They have documented the Huguenot Cemetery's grave markers, researched the genealogical information about those buried there, made measured drawings of some of the significant gravestones and box tombs, and restored grave markers.

To prevent damage and negative impact to the grounds due to large numbers of visitors, members of the Friends of the Huguenot Cemetery group conduct guided tours of the cemetery at specified times of the week.

Every ghost tour we've taken in St. Augustine included a stop at the Huguenot Cemetery to hear its history, some ghost stories, and to provide a photo taking opportunity. Of course the gates are locked to the ghost tours, but no tour of the haunted history of St. Augustine would be complete without a stop by the most haunted cemetery in the old city. Some of Huguenot's most famous ghostly encounters include:

~ Little Elizabeth, the yellow fever victim known to lurk around the Old City Gate, has also been spotted among the trees near her burial site. She's been known to wave to guests she encounters. It's said sightings of her are most common between midnight and 2am.

~ Judge John Stickney passed away in 1882, leaving behind his orphaned children who were sent to live with family members in the north. Years later as adults, the children chose to have their father's body exhumed and re-interred in Washington, D.C., closer to their home. On the exhumation day, the grave diggers took a short break, and when they returned, they found that thieves had stolen the judge's gold teeth. To protect their jobs, the workers closed up the casket and said nothing in the hopes that no one would notice. It is believed that this act of thievery haunts the old judge and inspires him to haunt the cemetery. His tall dark figure is said to have been spotted during both the day and the night walking around the graves, apparently searching for something.

~ Some who have toured Huguenot Cemetery have heard the sound of a man laughing.

~ Others have heard leaves crackling or bushes moving but have found nothing around that could reasonably be considered the source of the noise.

Attempts to capture paranormal experiences at this sacred burial ground often end the same way: photos with glowing orbs, flashes of light, shadows appearing behind people, and strange mists. In most cases, however, visitors take dozens of pictures only to find that they don't have anything unusual in them.

St. Augustine itself radiates a supernatural quality. I myself can attest to the fact that you can actually feel this quality around you as the sun goes down. It's no wonder, considering that from antiquity all the way to modernity, the city has been embroiled in events of blood and violence. 

Tribes of natives have butchered each other. There have been colonial periods rife with genocide, war, pirate raids, famine, and plagues. When modernity made its entrance, St. Augustine devolved into a haven for smugglers, rum runners, carpet baggers, and corrupt officials. The bay upon which the city sits is itself called Matanzas, Spanish for slaughter. Nearly every landmark in the city has a story of violence and death. For a while, those villains and their victims were laid to rest in the Huguenot Cemetery.

Huguenot Cemetery

A1A & Orange Street

St. Augustine, FL  32084

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The Ximenez-Fatio House, A Longstanding Example of 18th Century Women's Ingenuity

*Originally published June 22, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information is missing.

When people ask me where I think the best places in Florida are, St. Augustine is always at the top of my list. The city is filled with history, family friendly, pet friendly, and packed with award-winning museums and restaurants. The Ximenez-Fatio House, which managed a ranking of the number one museum in St. Augustine during the pandemic of 2020, is no exception.

Don Andres Ximenez built the house and warehouse in 1798 for himself and his bride, Juana Pellicer Ximenez. Juana's father, Francisco Pellicer, led the Minorcans from New Smyrna to St. Augustine in 1777 at the invitation of British governor Colonel Patrick Tonyn. This is the same group of Minorcans I've previously mentioned who fled their captivity as slaves of Dr. Andrew Turnbull. Pellicer brought about 600 people to St. Augustine, and they settled at the north end of St. George Street near the City Gate.

In his original plan for the location, Ximenez included a grocery store and storage room, tavern, and billiard hall on the first floor; family living space and bedrooms on the second floor; and quarters for the servants and slaves on the third floor. There were also two large warehouses on the first floor, now known to us as the first floor guest rooms, as well as a detached kitchen and washroom.

Sadly, Juana died in 1802, shortly after the home's construction, and Andres followed a few years later in 1806. She was jut 26, and he was 53.

The remaining Ximenez family passed the property among themselves until 1825, when Mrs. Margaret Cook and her husband purchased a 1/3 interest in the house. She bought another 1/3 interest when her husband passed away in 1827, and by 1830, Mrs. Cook owned the entire property.

She converted the home into a boarding house, converting the tavern into a lobby and the billiard hall into a dining room. It was she who converted the two warehouses into the downstairs guest rooms. She allowed the grocery store and storeroom to remain intact because they were so profitable.

Mrs. Cook hired Eliza Whitehurst (a single woman) to manage the boardinghouse, but Miss Whitehurst unfortunately died in June 1830 due to the epidemic of Yellow Fever.

In July 1830, Sarah Petty Anderson (a single woman) bought the boarding house from Mrs. Cook. She managed it herself until she hired Louisa Fatio (also a single woman) to handle the management tasks for her in 1852, later selling the boarding house to Miss Fatio in 1855 and moving to Tallahassee.

Miss Fatio owned and maintained the property for years, keeping it afloat through times of slavery, secession from the Union, war, re-occupation by Union Troops in 1862, and then Reconstruction.

She died in 1875, having maintained the prominence, good reputation, and integtrity of this boarding house through a period of history when single women rarely owned businesses and the term boarding house" often had a negative implication.

After Miss Fatio's death, the house spent the next several decades as an artist's retreat until it fell into disrepair in the 1930s. The grocery store and storeroom, however, always housed a retail business of some sort through this time.

In 1939, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Florida purchased the property, fixed it up, and reopened it to the public in May of 1940 as an example of historic home renovation.

The coquina rock house and detached kitchen have been restored without replacing any of the original building materials. All of the furnishings and artifacts have been researched for accuracy. As a result, the Ximenez-Fatio House is considered the most authientic 18th century building in St. Augustine.

The tour guides are experts on an era when the small, secluded town of St. Augustine became a tourist destination almost overnight.

The house has been owned and managed by women since the 1830s, a time when it was rare for women to own property, own a business, or earn a paycheck. By using their household management skills to earn a living, they basically set up the standards for modern tourism, which is the backbone of Florida's current economy.

This is one of the few historic properties owned and operated by a private non-profit organization. After almost 200 years, the property is still owned and managed by women.

The historic detached kitchen, shown above, contains an original 1800s beehive oven, believed to be one of three still surviving in Florida. In its day it would have been an indispensible tool, feeding many guests three times a day. Its fire would have burned all night in order to ensure that baking could begin at dawn.

The restoration of the house lasted decades. For approximately 75 years, some of America's top historians, archaeologists, and architects have guided the restoration and interpretation of this museum. The extraordinary attention to detail and personal care given in every step create an exceptional intimate connection with the past, making the property uniquely engaging and fascinating. TripAdvisor consistently ranks the museum among the top St. Augustine attractions every year.

After Florida became part of the United States, St. Augustine became a tourist destination, and a location where doctors often recommended that people with certain respiratory illnesses could seek relief. There was also a large military presence at the US occupied Castillo de San Marcos.

The Ximenez-Fatio House was one of the largest boarding houses in the city. Several additions were made in later years to increase the number of rooms. 

As an upscale inn, it hosted individuals, families, politicians, sea captains, soldiers, and adventurers.

Owned and operated by a succession of hard-working and intelligent women, the boarding house was a highly regarded place to stay in St. Augustine in its day.

Check out their website for information regarding daily tour offerings, "Heist at the Museum" events, ghost and paranormal experience tours, and details for booking weddings, receptions, and other events.

Ximenez-Fatio House Museum

20 Aviles Street

St. Augustine, FL  32084

904-829-3575

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Castillo de San Marcos, Defender of St. Augustine

*Originally published June 22, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing.

The Castillo de San Marcos was built by the Spanish to defend St. Augustine, Florida, and the Atlantic trade route. As with many things in the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States, it is the oldest masonry fortress in the continental US and preserves more than 450 years of cultural intersections.

Located on the western shore of the Matanzas Bay, its construction was ordered by Governor Francisco de la Guerra y de la Vega after a 1668 raid of St. Augustine by English privateer Robert Searles that destroyed much of the city and damaged the existing wooden fort. It was designed by Spanish engineer Ignacio Daza, with construction beginning in 1672.

Construction of the core of the fortress was finished in 1695, although the fort would undergo many changes, additions, and renovations over the centuries.

The fort was a continuously occupied military installation for 251 years, though it changed hands between the Spanish, the British several times, and finally the United States in 1821. During those changes in occupation, the name of the fort was changed several times as well, becoming US Army Base Fort Marion in 1821, named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion.

The fort was declared a National Monument in 1924, and after 251 years of continuous military occupation, it was deactivated in 1933. The site was then turned over to the National Park Service for care and conservation, with its original name Castillo de San Marcos being restored by an act of Congress in 1942.

Castillo de San Marcos was attacked several times and besieged twice: first, by English Colonial forces led by Carolina Colony Governor James Moore in 1702, and a second time by English Georgia Colony Governor James Oglethorpe in 1740. It was never taken by force.

The fort has changed hands six times, all peaceful, among four different governments: the Spanish, the English, the United States, and the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The Castillo was used as a prison by the English during the Revolutionary War, and at one time it held three signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Under US control, the fort was used as a military prison to incarcerate members of Native American tribes - among them were Osceola, the famous war chief, during the Second Seminole War, and Geronimo's band of Chiricahua Apache.

The Castillo is constructed of coquina, a locally sourced stone-type compound made of seashell and limestone. Its walls are 11-19 feet thick at the base and taper to 9 feet at the top. The use of coquina as the building material for both the Castillo de San Marcos and the nearby Fort Matanzas created fortresses that were nearly indestructible.

Unlike other types of stone, coquina has a compressible nature, absorbing the blasts of projectile cannons rather than deflecting. As a result, ammunition would get stuck in the fort walls rather than exploding the wall into pieces.

The fort's other rather significant feature is its star-shaped design; it was modeled after a 15th century Italian design known as the "bastion system," which eliminated blind spots and allowed multiple cannons to be fired at the same target.

A moat surrounds the structure, although the moat has been empty for many years.

The entrance is on the south side of the fort and is protected by a barbacan, or arrow shaped outwork. A stationary bridge leads partway across the moat, and the path continues into the fort by drawbridge.

All of the areas and rooms are off of the main courtyard in the center of the fortress, which unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to see myself. During our last few trips to St. Augustine, the daily tours inside the Castillo were not being run due to Covid.

The cannons shown here are examples of what would have been mounted on the upper gun deck walls of the huge structure, and you can walk along the bay side of the Castillo to check them out.

Castillo de San Marcos is one of the main attractions that St. Augustine visitors come to see - not just for the daily tours of the fort itself, and the history, but for the ghost stories and hauntings associated with it. My own experiences touring the fort, other than our own wanderings around without a tour guide, have been with the ghost tours around the city at night.

The biggest ghost story of the Castillo involves death, adultery, and rage. in July 1784 Colonel Garcia Marti arrived at the Castillo with his very pretty, much younger wife Dolores. While she was young and outgoing, and made many friends in St. Augustine, her husband Colonel Marti was dour and humorless.

She met his young and handsome assistant, Captain Abela, and before long the two fell in love and began an affair. As with all stories of this type, Colonel Marti discovered the affair, and one night Dolores and the Captain disappeared.

When their absence was noted, the Colonel told everyone that Captain Abela had left on a special mission to Cuba and Dolores had taken ill, going to live with her aunt in Mexico with plans to return to Spain from there. Although questions abounded, his story was never directly challenged.

It was in 1833 when Lieutenant Tuttle, an American officer, found a hidden room behind a brick wall in the dungeon area, with the skeletal remains of two prisoners chained inside, inadvertently discovering the truth. It is believed that Colonel Marti entombed the pair there to end their lives.

The views from the Castillo are spectacular. We watched the sun set over the city during our last visit and finalized our decision as to when we would be moving to Florida permanently. If you're in St. Augustine, this is one of the places you should definitely visit, even if you just walk around on your own without taking one of the tours.

Castillo de San Marcos

1 S. Castillo Drive

St. Augustine, FL 32084

904-825-6506

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Tolomato Cemetery: One Acre With Centuries of History

*Originally published June 22, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing.

Tolomato was in use as a cemetery from the 18th century until 1884, when all of the old cemeteries in St. Augustine were closed and new cemeteries were established. It is the final resting place of approximately 1,000 St. Augustine residents, including many people important to the history of Florida and the United States.

The cemetery is located on the site of what was once an early 18th century Franciscan  Indian Mission, Our Lady of Guadalupe of Tolomato. The Indian group was made up of Guale Indians from Georgia. Tolomato was the name of a place, potentially a river, where they lived before they came to St. Augustine during the 16th century after attacks from hostile tribes. They moved to the current site during attacks by British forces from South Carolina and Georgia that destroyed the Florida Missions in the 1700s.

When the Minorcans arrived in 1777 after their rebellion in New Smyrna, they brought their priest, Fr. Camps with them. Patrick Tonyn, the British governor of St. Augustine at the time, granted Fr. Camps permission to bury the deceased members of his parish in the "old Catholic cemetery" of Tolomato. This was the beginning of the use of the grounds solely as a cemetery.

The Minorcans buried in Tolomato are the ancestors of many St. Augustine residents, and there are large numbers of documented burials from the 18th and 18th centuries. All burials in the cemetery ceased in 1884, when all cemeteries within the city limits were closed, one of the reasons being the fear that they assisted in the spread of Yellow Fever.

Of course cemeteries had little to do with the spreading epidemic, but no one knew that until 1905 when Dr. Walter Reed identified the mosquito as the source.

The cemetery is the resting place of people from all the diverse groups that created St. Augustine, including Spanish, Minorcan, Irish, African, Greek, Italian, and 19th century Southern and Eastern Americans.

For over 100 years, Tolomato Cemetery was the parish cemetery for what is now known as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, located about a half mile away on the plaza.

Although there are over 1,000 known burials in the cemetery, there are little over 100 markers. Our present day knowledge of the burials comes from the parish death records, most of which are held in the Diocesan Archives on Aviles Street.

The cemetery is still owned by the Cathedral Parish and the Diocese of St. Augustine, and they have maintained and protected it over the years. 

There are a number of historically important burials on the grounds, including the graves of the Sisters of St. Joseph, veterans from both sides of the Civil War, and Freedmen who fought with the Union.

It is also the burial site of important religious and political leaders; including the Second Spanish Period Governor, Enrique White; General Georges Biassou of Haiti; the first Bishop of St. Augustine, Bishop Agustin Verot; and Father Felix Varela of Cuba, whose canonization process is underway.

The small white chapel, the distinctive feature of Tolomato, was built to hold his remains by some Cubans who had been students of Father Varela in the seminary in Havana along with some of his friends in New York City.

Tolomato also holds the oldest extant marked burial in the state of Florida, the above ground vault of 16 year old Elizabeth Forrester, who died and was buried in 1798.

Over the centuries, the inscriptions and features on many of the stones have worn away, but those that can be read have been preserved. The cemetery owns historical photos of markers that have been gone since before the memories of anyone currently associated with the cemetery.

Although the cemetery officially closed to burials in 1884, the last actual burial on the grounds took place in 1892. Two such unauthorized burials, one in 1886 and the second in 1892, caused the families of the deceased to incur fines of $25 each for violating the law.

The cemetery opens to the public for tours on the third Saturday of each month, and private tours can be arranged with two weeks prior notice with donations requested for private tours.

Tolomato is one of the regular stops on the St. Augustine ghost tours, of course. My favorite ghost story about the cemetery is the story of Little James, who enjoyed climbing the ancient live oak just inside the cemetery gates. In November 1877, just ten days after his 5th birthday, he slipped and fell while climbing the old tree, snapping his neck and dying instantly. 

James is buried in Tolomato under the oak he loved, and although his family owned additional plots for themselves, they were so devastated by his loss that they moved away from St. Augustine and never returned. 

The spirit of Little James himself is believed to remain within the cemetery, having been spotted by children and adults alike playing within the cemetery grounds as well as perched high in the branches of his favorite old live oak.

There are other stories about hauntings at the Tolomato Cemetery, but I'll leave them out of my story here in the hopes that you'll choose to participate in one of the many fun and educational tours available in St. Augustine that includes a stop outside the Tolomato Gates.

Tolomato Cemetery

14 Cordova Street

St. Augustine, FL  32084

904-257-3273

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