St. Augustine, FL. A place I never tire of visiting.

Tracy took a trip to visit friends in FL and spent time in Ponte Vedra, St. Augustine, Winter Springs. Juan Ponce de Leon showed up on these Florida shores on behalf of Spain before any other Europeans. He was looking for gold and a mythological Fountain of Youth. The local native population at the time were known as Timucua. Good ole Ponce did not establish a community. That was taken care of by Pedro Menendez de Aviles roughly 50 years later in 1565. He named it St. Augustine which is oldest continuously occupied city in the U.S. In 1587 the first Catholic Mission is built. The spring found there is indeed full of minerals which was the perfect way to replenish and rehydrate after a  long journey at sea. The sailors would have felt "younger". You too can drink from this if you visit as it is housed in

Reportedly the Timuucans had lived here for 3000 years before
the arrival of the Europeans. The welcomed the newcomers and
helped them settle into their own village. 

The water is cool but with all those minerals doesn't taste great

Sauriwa was main chief. 

The recreated village. 

The recreated Mission Nombre de Dios. 

Juan Ponce de Leon b. 1460. Governor San Juan
Puerto Rico 1509-1511

Keeping an eye on things at the  Fountain of Youth. 

Roughly 30 Indian peafowl live in the park/ This is one of  two cannons from the U.S.S. Constitution. These do not fire
but there is one that fires several times a day in another
area of the park. Fair warning to those of us who are bit
jumpy at loud sounds. 

The white peacocks have a form of albinism.

ALL PHOTOS AND INFORMATION ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED. AS THE SOLE PROPERTY OF THE BLOGGER THEY MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED OR USED IN ANY WAY WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE BLOGGER.