William W. Dewhurst

ST. AUGUSTINE AS IT USED TO BE.—CUSTOMS.—THE OLDEST STRUCTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.—PRESENT POPULATION.—OBJECTS OF INTEREST.—BUILDINGS ANCIENT AND MODERN.—ST. AUGUSTINE DURING THE REBELLION.—CLIMATE.—ADVANTAGES AS A HEALTH RESORT.

In February, 1835, an unprecedented depression of temperature destroyed the orange trees which embosomed the town and rendered the place exceedingly attractive. The deep green foliage concealed the dingy and often unsightly buildings. The fragrance of the blossoms in spring was almost overpowering, and was said to be perceptible far out to sea. The income of the people of the town derived from the sale of their oranges was not far from seventy-five thousand dollars annually, and the crop that was yearly sent from St. Augustine in sailing vessels exceeded three million oranges. One orange tree upon the plaza is reported to have borne twelve thousand oranges. In 1829, Mr. A. Alverez picked from one tree in his garden six thousand five hundred oranges, and it is recorded that “an old citizen picked from one tree eight thousand of the golden apples. The Minorcan population of St. Augustine had been accustomed to depend on the produce of their little groves of eight or ten trees, to purchase their coffee, sugar, and other necessaries from the stores; they were left without resource. The wild groves suffered equally with those cultivated. The town of St. Augustine, that heretofore appeared like a rustic village, its white houses peeping from the clustered boughs and golden fruit of their favorite tree, beneath whose shade the foreign invalid cooled his fevered limbs, and imbibed health from the fragrant air, how is she fallen! Dry, unsightly poles, with ragged bark, stick up around her dwellings, and where the mocking bird once delighted to build her nest, and tune her lovely song, owls now hoot at night, and sterile winds whistle through the leafless branches. Never was a place more desolate.”[37]

Many of the trees had attained a very large size and great age. A large number sent out sprouts from the roots, and if undisturbed, many groves would have borne profitable crops in a few years. The scale insect, however, made its appearance in 1842 in countless multitudes, blighting the groves throughout Florida. For twenty years it was a constant struggle, on the part of the few who retained their faith in the success of orange culture, to rid their groves of this destructive insect. Finally, nature provided in some way an exterminator of the insect, and from that time there has been no serious drawback to the culture of oranges in Florida. Williams describes the inhabitants at this time as “a temperate, quiet, and rather indolent people; affectionate and friendly to each other, and kind to the few slaves they held. They mostly kept little stores, cultivated small groves or gardens, and followed fishing and hunting.” Posey balls, masquerades, and sherivarees were their principal diversions.

The posey dance of St. Augustine was introduced in the following manner: “The females of a family, no matter what their rank or station in life may be, erect in a room of their house a neat little altar, lit up with candles, and dressed with pots and festoons of flowers. This is understood by the gentlemen as a polite invitation to call and admire the taste of the fair architects. It is continued for several successive evenings; in the meantime the lady selects from her visitors some happy beau, whom she delights to honor, and presents him with a bouquet of choice flowers. His gallantry is then put to the test; should he choose to decline the proffered honor, he has only to pay the expenses of lighting up the altar. But if he accepts the full dignity offered him, he is king of the ball, which shortly succeeds, and the posey lass becomes queen, as a matter of course. The posey ball is a mixed assembly. People of all ranks meet here on a level, yet they are conducted with the nicest decorum, and even with politeness and grace.

“Sherivarees are parties of idle people, who dress themselves in grotesque masquerade, whenever a widow or widower is married. They often parade about the streets and play buffoon tricks for two or three days; haunting the residence of the new married pair, and disturbing the whole city with noise and riot.

“The carnival is a scene of masquerading, which was formerly celebrated by the Spanish and Minorcan populations with much taste and gayety; but since the introduction of an American population, it has during the whole winter season been prostituted to cover drunken revels, and to pass the basest objects of society into the abodes of respectable people, to the great annoyance of the civil part of the community.”[38]

These and other customs have long since ceased to exist, and many are already forgotten. One of these was “shooting the Jews,” originally a religious ceremony, but afterwards a diversion. For many years it was the custom to hang effigies at the street corners and upon the plaza on the evening of Good Friday. When the bells in the cathedral, which are never rung during Good Friday, began on Saturday morning at ten o’clock to ring the Hallelujah, crowds of men in the streets commenced to shoot with guns and pistols at the hanging effigies. This was continued until some unerring marksman severed the cord about the neck of the image, or perhaps it was riddled and shredded by the fusilade.

The Spanish veil was until a late period the only covering for the head worn by the ladies of the town. A lady now living has described the disapproval manifested at the appearance of the first bonnet in church. Great indignation was expressed, and loud protests against the insult offered to the church and congregation by this supposed exhibition of ill-breeding and irreverence.

In the memory of those now living wheeled vehicles within the gates were first allowed. Before that time all moving of goods was done in packs. The narrow streets without sidewalks evidently were not intended for the passage of carts and carriages. Saddle-horses were common, but their path was the center of the street, which was rendered hard and smooth with pounded coquina, and kept so neat that the ladies wore on their feet only the thinnest of slippers.

One of the ancient customs brought from the island of Minorca is yet continued.

On the night before Easter Sunday the young men go about the city in parties serenading. Approaching the dwelling of some one whom they wish to favor with their song, or from whom they expect the favors asked in their rhyme, they knock gently upon the window. If their visit is welcome they are answered by a knock from within, and at once begin the following song said to be in the Mahonese dialect:

After this hymn the following stanzas, soliciting the customary gifts of cakes or eggs, are sung:

The shutters are then opened by the people within, and a supply of cakes or other pastry is dropped into a bag carried by one of the party, who acknowledge the gift in the following lines, and then depart:

If nothing is given, the last line reads thus:

This song is repeated throughout the city until midnight. To the listener it has a peculiar fascination like some of the tunes from popular operas, keeping one awake to listen to its strains, even after many repetitions have rendered the singing monotonous.

The walls of the United States barracks are probably the oldest structures in the place. An old house on Hospital Street, torn down in 1871, when Mr. Pendleton built a very pretty cottage upon the same ground, was said by old residents to have been the oldest house in the town. The former residence of the attorney-general during the English possession stood just south of the Worth House on the corner of Bay and Green Streets. This was a very old structure, though built in too costly a manner to have been one of the earliest buildings, one of which in English times still bore the date 1571. The house was built by a Spaniard named Ysnada. Its beams were made of a wood brought from Cuba, which resembled our royal palm in being susceptible of taking a high polish. The staircases, wainscoting, and panels were of lignum vitÆ. For many years the house stood in too dilapidated a condition for occupancy. Finally the wood was torn out by curiosity hunters and dealers, and made into canes and other mementoes of “the oldest house in St. Augustine.”

The present sea-wall was built between 1835 and 1843, under the superintendence of Colonel Dancey, now living at his orange grove called Buena Vista, on the St. Johns River. He was then a captain in the U. S. Army. The wall is ten feet above low-water mark, seven feet thick at the base, and three feet wide on top, capped with granite, and extends along the whole front of the city, from the old fort on the north to the barracks on the south, about three-quarters of a mile in length. Opposite the plaza the wall forms a basin for small boats. Under Colonel Dancey the government spent three appropriations of fifty thousand dollars each, having spent twenty thousand dollars previously in preparation for the work. Captain Benham spent two appropriations of fifty thousand dollars each in covering the wall with granite slabs, as it was found that the coquina was rapidly wearing away under the tread of pedestrians using the wall as a promenade. Much of the pleasure of this otherwise delightful promenade is marred by the narrowness of the curbing, making the passing difficult. This feature is said to be unobjectionable to lovers, who are credited with the opinion that to see St. Augustine aright it is necessary to promenade the sea-wall by moonlight, viewing the rippling waters of the bay, with the roar of the surf on the neighboring beach as an interlude to the sweeter music of their own voices. Colonel Dancey built the present causeway leading to the depot in 1837 at the expense of the United States. His successor, Captain Benham, superintended the construction of the water battery at the fort, and other repairs made to the property of the United States within the city.

Under the dominion of the United States, St. Augustine soon became a health and pleasure resort. Without manufactures, with, as yet, no products of agriculture for export, its fine port is destitute of commerce, and its easy-going population have ever since depended upon the attractions offered by their city to invalids and persons of fortune, for the means with which to procure the necessaries and luxuries which its inhabitants enjoy in a fair measure. Strangers often wonder how the town is supported, but upon investigation it is found that the frugality of the people is remarkable. Their independence comes from what they save rather than from what they earn. While there is little wealth among its citizens, there is little actual want. The many girls and young ladies always dress with neatness and taste, and many earn the means to support themselves by braiding palmetto for hats and baskets, making feather flowers, shell, and fish-scale ornaments, and bouquets of the native grasses. The town has long been noted for the number and health of its young children.

In 1834 the city contained 1,739 inhabitants, of whom 498 were males, 519 females, 151 free colored persons, and 571 slaves. Of these, 10 were lawyers, 3 doctors, 1 printer, 7 dry-goods dealers, 6 keepers of boarding-houses, 13 grocers, 1 painter, 7 carpenters, 4 masons, 2 blacksmiths, 1 gunsmith, 2 shoemakers, 1 baker, 2 tailors, 1 tanner, and 5 cigar-makers. The present population of the city is, by the census of 1880, about 2,300, of which about the same number follow the above callings as in 1834, with the exception of lawyers and grocers, of whom there are not more than half the former number. There is no bank in the city, its place being supplied by the money-order department of the post-office. The colored population are much more intelligent, better educated, and generally superior to the individuals of that unfortunate race found in other parts of the South. This is partly owing to the large number of free negroes here before the Emancipation, and also to the advantages they have derived from contact with the visitors and residents coming from all parts of the country. In 1843 the poet Bryant remarked the fact above stated, saying, “In the colored people whom I saw in the Catholic church I remarked a more agreeable, open, and gentle physiognomy than I have been accustomed to see in that class.”[39]

Many of the most interesting old structures have, unfortunately, been torn down. As these attractive old relics of antiquity are swept away, some ignorant iconoclast bids the people rejoice over a new “city improvement,” forgetting that there are many modern cities in America, and but one “ancient city.” The building now used as a post-office has, in this way, been remodeled from a quaint and interesting old Spanish structure, with its court-yard and balconies, into a commonplace modern structure. Even the old coquina lunette standing in the same yard on the corner of King and Tolomato Streets had to succumb to personal interest and the demand for “improvements,” and was swept away, thus depriving the city of one of its most attractive mementoes.The fort, the Spanish monument, the cathedral, and the city gates yet remain, preserved from the hands of vandals. The city has lately repaired the sentry-boxes, constructed in the pilasters of the city gate, and doubtless from this time on there will be an effort made to preserve all of the old relics yet remaining.

In 1879 the Ladies’ Memorial Association obtained permission of the city to remove to the plaza a monument that had been erected on St. George Street to the memory of the soldiers of St. Augustine and vicinity who died in the late “war between the States.” This monument now stands near the east end of the plaza, and preserves the names of those whose memory it is intended to perpetuate, engraved upon two marble slabs set into the masonry. Its inscriptions are as follows:

“Our dead.”

In the military cemetery near the barracks are three small pyramids built of masonry and whitewashed, marking the place where are interred the remains of Major Dade and his one hundred and seven comrades massacred by the Indians near the Withlacoochee River, on the 28th of December, 1835. They were buried on the battle-field by a detachment that was sent out for their succor, but arrived too late. Upon the removal of their remains to St. Augustine, these pyramids were erected, and also a handsome monument. The monument is of marble, a broken pillar or shaft upon a square pedestal, with inscriptions on the four faces.

On the first we read:

“This monument, in token of respectful and affectionate remembrance by their comrades of all grades, is committed to the care and preservation of the garrison of St. Augustine.”

On another the following:

“A mute record of all the officers who perished, and are here and elsewhere deposited, as also a portion of the soldiers, has been prepared and placed in the office of the adjutant of the post, where it is hoped it will be carefully and perpetually preserved.”

On another:

“The conflict in which so many perished in battle, and by disease, commenced 25th December, 1835, and terminated 14th August, 1842.”

On the last:

“Sacred to the memory of the officers and soldiers killed in battle and died in service during the Florida War.”

Near this cemetery is the post hospital, a convenient and airy building. A large building on St. George Street, erected in 1874, is occupied by the society of nuns called Sisters of St. Joseph. Many of the female children of the city are taught by the sisters in this building, and children from abroad are also received, and lodge in the building. The nuns of St. Augustine have always had the reputation of making fine lace-work, and much of their work is purchased by visitors.

A large and comfortable building was erected a few years since as a home for aged and infirm colored persons. It stands back from King Street just west of Santa Maria Creek. Doctor Bronson and Mr. Buckingham Smith were chiefly instrumental in erecting the building and furnishing the endowment, which is managed by a board of trustees. The general management of the Home and its inmates is given to a matron chosen by the ladies of the different church parishes, subject to the approval of the board of trustees.

The wooden building upon a circular foundation of coquina standing in the bay north of the basin is the bath-house. In the winter it is kept heated, and warm salt-water baths are furnished to visitors. During the summer it is liberally patronized for swimming baths by the citizens of the place and many summer visitors, who come from the interior of the State to spend the hot months at the seaside. Probably a larger proportion of the ladies of St. Augustine know how to swim than of any other place in the country.

Within the last few years there have been a number of handsome houses built in the city by wealthy gentlemen who occupy them during the winter season. Mr. H. P. Kingsland of New York has a fine residence north of the gates upon the shell road. This is probably the most expensive of the houses built by nonresidents, though the fine house built by the late Hy. Ball upon his estate on Tolomato Street is said to have cost a large sum of money. The grounds and orange grove on this place were very attractive during the life of Mr. Ball, and it is a place much frequented by visitors.

Mr. Geo. L. Lorillard has lately purchased the “Stone” mansion on St. George Street, and is ornamenting the grounds, and otherwise making the place more attractive.

Mr. Tyler, Mr. Ammidown, Mr. Howard, Mr. Bronson, Mr. Alexander, and Mr. Wilson each have fine residences on St. George Street south of the plaza. Mr. Edgar has a handsome coquina house on the bay, while the residence of ex-Senator Gilbert on the south, and the residence and orange grove of Dr. Anderson on the north, are sure to attract the notice of the stranger entering the city from the causeway. All of these residences have attractive grounds, ornamentally laid out, and artistically adorned, containing a great variety of most beautiful roses and ornamental plants and flowers. The roses especially are congenial to the soil and climate, and are in the early winter months most attractive in their wealth of bloom. This shrub in some of its varieties, here attains the proportions of a tree. The rose tree in the garden of Mr. Oliveros was fifteen feet high, rising from a stock twenty-one inches in circumference, and its branches covered a space eighteen feet in diameter. The tree is dead, but the stump is still to be seen.

The shell road extends for about a mile north of the city, and is much used during the winter season. Carriages, buggies, and saddle-horses for hire are usually standing at all hours in front of the hotels or near the plaza, and on fair days are well patronized. Mr. Williams and Mr. Hildreth, north of the city, have attractive places which are much visited by tourists. When the tide is low there is a short but quite hard drive along the edge of the St. Sebastian River. There is an interesting drive to a suburb west of the city called Ravenswood, where is a spring called from the famous Ponce de Leon. A great natural curiosity is a large spring in the ocean about three miles off the coast near Matanzas Inlet, eighteen miles south of St. Augustine. This spring has been described in the publications of the U. S. Coast Survey. There is a comfortable hotel kept by Mr. Darius Allen at Matanzas, which is often filled with hunting and fishing parties. The house stands on the narrow sand reef between the Matanzas River and the ocean.

At the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion the Union sentiment, which existed among a considerable portion of the community, was stifled by the taunts of cowardice and the popular frenzy for secession. A number of the inhabitants, being unable to make their influence felt at the election of delegates, prepared and had presented to the convention that passed the ordinance of secession a letter of protest against such a course. The only effect of this letter was to place the signers in such a position that they were advised to volunteer at once to serve in the Confederate army.

In March, 1862, the United States forces took possession of the town, which they held until the close of the war. The city was taken by a naval force under command of Lieut. S. F. Du Pont, afterward Admiral Du Pont.

In his report to the Secretary of the Navy, Flag-Officer Du Pont speaks of the occupation of the place in a tone exhibiting less of exultation than sadness, that a place which had enjoyed so many favors at the hands of the government should have taken part in an attempt at its overthrow.

It is perhaps too soon after the close of the struggle to discuss the events of that period. As a matter of history, however, I give the report of Commander Rodgers, who received the surrender of the town. In transmitting the report, Flag-Officer Du Pont adds: “The American flag is flying once more over that old city, raised by the hands of its own people.”

The following is Commander Rodgers’s report:

Mr. Christobal Bravo, an old and much-respected citizen of the place, who is still alive, was the mayor who surrendered the town.

Immediately after the close of the Rebellion, real estate in the city possessed very little value. Within a short time, however, as a few wealthy men began to secure sites for winter residences, the prices suddenly leaped to the full value, and, in many cases, fictitious values, which they have since maintained.

The climate of St. Augustine is unsurpassed by that of any location in the world. The mass of testimony to its healthfulness and agreeableness is constantly accumulating, and dates from its first settlement.

The extreme old age attained by the aborigines in Florida has been referred to in the extract from LaudonnÈre. Romans mentions a man, eighty-five years old, who had gone five miles on foot to catch fish, while his mother was meantime busy preparing bread.

The following quaint testimony is from “Romans’s History”:

“Before I quit this subject of the air, I cannot help taking notice of a remark, which I have read somewhere, made by Dr. James McKenzie, which is, ‘The soon molding of the bread, moistness of sponge, dissolution of loaf sugar, and rusting of metals, are marks of a bad air.’ Now every one of those marks are more to be seen at St. Augustine than in any place I ever was at. And yet I do not think that on all the continent there is a more healthy spot. Burials have been less frequent here than anywhere else, where an equal number of inhabitants are found; and it was remarked, during my stay there, that, when a detachment of the royal regiment of artillery once arrived there in a sickly state, none of the inhabitants caught the contagion, and the troops themselves soon recruited. The Spanish inhabitants lived here to a great age, and certain it is, that the people of the Havannah looked on it as their Montpellier, frequenting it for the sake of health.”

Forbes remarks that the Ninth Regiment of British troops never lost a man by natural death during the eight months they were quartered in the town. The undeviating salubrity “of St. Augustine, under the British flag, was certainly augmented by the perfect cleanliness and neatness which was the characteristic of the town during that epoch, and that it continued so while the buildings crumbled into ruins over the heads of the indolent Spaniards, and the dirt and nuisance augmented in every lot is an additional proof of the natural healthfulness of the place.”[40]

From October to June the weather is temperate, the thermometer having a mean of fifty-eight degrees in the winter, and sixty-eight degrees in the spring. During the winter months there are frequent cloudy days, and usually several cold storms in a season. From twenty-five years’ observations Dr. Baldwin, of Jacksonville, prepared a table showing the average of clear days in January to be 20 ³/₁₀; February, 19 ⁵/₁₀; March, 20 ⁴/₁₀; April, 25. For the whole year, 235 clear days.

The climate of St. Augustine is sufficiently cold in winter to brace up the constitution, after being relaxed by summer heats. On the other hand, it is sufficiently warm to entice the invalid to be out of doors, and to present opportunities for open-air exercises. The east winds that prevail are tempered by the proximity of the Gulf Stream, a vast volume of warm water moving along the coast of Florida, whose effect is felt thousands of miles farther north in modifying the temperature of the British Isles.

The peculiar location of St. Augustine, upon a narrow peninsula, provides a natural drainage that renders the place particularly desirable as a health resort. Through the winter rains are infrequent, that being the dry season in Florida; whatever rain falls, however, is immediately absorbed by the sandy soil, and, in many parts of the city, the slope of the surface carries the rain-fall immediately into the tide-water environing the city, before it has time to be absorbed by the earth.

Thus it will be seen that, although we sometimes have fogs and cloudy weather, the humidity of the atmosphere is less than that of several noted health resorts, some of which are at a considerable elevation. Finally, the medical attendance and supply of nourishing and appetizing food available at St. Augustine are all that could be desired. The hotels and boarding-houses are excellent; while the opportunities and inducements for open-air recreations and exercises are superior.

With the close connections furnished by the lines of railway lately completed to Jacksonville, that city will doubtless become the objective point of the Florida-bound tourist. At that place time-tables can be obtained of the river steamers and the railway from Tocoi, on the St. Johns River, to St. Augustine; and, by correspondence, accommodations can be secured in advance, during the season, when the hotels and boarding-houses of St. Augustine are likely to be crowded.

All visitors to Florida, and especially those who come for recreation, should be sure to spend a portion of the season, at least, in St. Augustine.

THE
SOUVENIR ALBUM
OF
VIEWS IN ST. AUGUSTINE.
PREPARED BY THE CELEBRATED
LOUIS GLASER, OF LEIPSIC,
And Copyrighted.
————
THIS CONVENIENT LITTLE ALBUM CONTAINS
VIEWS OF FOURTEEN OF THE MOST INTERESTING
SCENES AND STRUCTURES
IN THE
“A N C I E N T C I T Y;”

Embracing:

A most acceptable present, and a memento of the oldest town in the United States.

Sent, post-paid, on receipt of one dollar.

Address,

W. W. DEWHURST,

St. Augustine, Florida.