Over centuries the city changed hands between Spain, Britain, and the United States, each leaving its mark on the architecture, the street grid, and the place names. By the late nineteenth century, Henry Flagler's railroad brought northern winter visitors by the trainload, and the old garrison town picked up Spanish Renaissance hotels, a Mediterranean Revival bridge, and the look of a resort. The Castillo became a national monument in 1924. In 1965, on its four-hundredth anniversary, St. Augustine paused to take stock of how much had survived intact — the fort, the street grid, the Cathedral, the lanes — and the modern preservation era began. Today the old quarter is a national historic landmark and a year-round destination, anchored by the Castillo, the lighthouse on Anastasia, and the Bridge of Lions.
Walk the town now and the layers stack on one street: the coquina fort, the narrow Spanish-colonial lanes of St. George Street and Aviles Street, the Bridge of Lions over the bay, the lighthouse on Anastasia Island, thirty-six original colonial buildings still standing among them. St. Augustine has kept its light burning longer than any other city in America — and you can feel it in every step.
Why People Visit St Augustine Florida
St. Augustine brings four and a half centuries of American history into one compact, walkable city. Visitors come for the coquina fort that was never taken, the oldest streets in the country, Flagler's Gilded-Age architecture, the lighthouse and the bayfront, and the winter glow of the Nights of Lights. It is historic, scenic, and unmistakably first. The road of American history runs back further here than anywhere else in the continental United States.
