Littleton Elementary's 4th Grade caps off the school year
with a trip to St. Augustine to see first hand the FL history
they have studied all year. While I am not normally an
overprotective Momma, I just couldn't let Ian go without
one of us. I'm so glad I went! The boys were great and
the tours were so interesting. I learned so much...and now you
are going to be educated as well. (sorry)
Facts about St. Augustine:
Oldest city in the USA.
*First hotel to have electricity
*Very haunted City
*6 flags have flown over Castillo de San Marcos
*Ponce De Leon "discovered" St. Augustine in 1513.
*He named it La Florida because all of the tropical flowers
were in bloom.
*He discovered "the fountain of youth" which still brings
spring water today...and tastes like nasty well water.
Boys will be boys and the first thing
they did was start a race competition with Drake's Dad
as the turn around point. One of the boys said to me,
"Ian sure loves to run". Indeed he does!
Here are some of the boys we toured with, posing in
front of one of the city walls. This was right before the teachers
yelled at them to get off the wall. Sorry boys...
The kids were fascinated with these beautiful birds.
We saw a pure white one as well but I couldn't
get a good picture of it.
This is the proof that Ponce De Leon was here in 1513.
This cross has 13 stones across and 15 down. A Spanish
Catholic relic was found in the same vicinity.
This crazy fellow taught us all about blowing
things up. He explained how the cannons
and guns worked.
No matter where we go, we always
seem to find something that reminds
us of John!
This is the skin of an alligator. I was touring with
boys so as soon as we were given free time to explore,
this is where they headed first. GROSS!
This a dugout canoe. The Indians would burn it and then
use shells to scoop out the inside until they were only
left with the shell of the log. Ta da...a canoe.
Giant ceramic pots used to catch rain water.
This is an example of the wall that was
built around the city limits.
Yup, it rained...HARD. We were soaked during our
windowless/doorless tram tour.
This is a statue of Admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles.
In 1565, the Spanish realized the French were going to
try and seize St. Augustine, Spain sent Menedez to
fortify and settle the city. It has been continuously
settled ever since, thus making it the oldest city
in America.
After visiting the city during his honeymoon, Henry Morrison Flagler
decided to build it into vacation destination. The land he desired
was already occupied by various churches. He bought the buildings and
had new churches, even more grand than the original, built in thier
place. The archway and red brick are signature to his buildings.
Alcazar became the tourist destination for those wanting a break
from the cold winter. Flager's hotel was the first to have
electricity. In fact, his guests were afraid to use it so he
hired staff just to turn on/off lights. It had the first indoor
pool and he would hire trapeze artists to perform above the
swimmers.
It is now known as Flagler College.
The oldest city also has the oldest Catholic Church. The
first mass was said here and the first bishop presided here.
To help celebrate the rich Catholic history, The Pope is
coming here in 2015 to celebrate the 400th year of
the Catholic faith in the city.
We've had a ton of education and now it's time for
some fun! We got to tour Ripley's Believe It or Not!
This was the original museum. Mr. Ripley settled here and
decided to put his eclectic collections on display.
Here are the boys showing that "the pirates
life's for me!"
The crown of thorns on this statue are from the
same tree of Jesus' crown of thorns.
Hmm...I don't really have anything to say about
a two headed lamb. Just odd...
"Bus One" rocked Castillo de San Marcos. This is the fort
that kept the city safe for hundreds of years.
Random Facts: *6 flags were flown over the fort but all
by official decree---it was never lost in battle. *The moat
was not filled with water but instead the city's livestock when
under attack. *The walls are made of coquina (limestone and shell).
Due to the physical structure of coquina, cannon balls are embedded
into the fortress walls instead of shattering them.
http://www.st-augustine-travel-guide.com/castillo-de-san-marcos.html
Where prisoners faced the firing squad.
Ian with a cannon that looked out into the Inter Coastal Waterway.
Some of these cannons could accurately shoot up to 3 miles.
One of the very ornate cannons
We had a medical lesson at the Spanish Military Hospital.
It was the most advanced for its time. Compared to most hospitals,
it had a very good survivor rate (75% compared to 20-25%).
By decree of the Spanish King, doctors MUST wash hands.
Patients received their own "poop pots", linen and beds.
These measures were not standard in most hospitals.
Most surgical procedures were done outside on the porch
because the Florida sun was the brightest light.
Here, our guide was demonstrating the tools used to
perform many medical procedures... well, mostly
amputations. Lucas lost his thumb, arm and needed to have
the fluid drained from his head, all done without anesthesia.
After dinner, we went on a ghost tour. We started and ended
at The Huguenot Cemetery. It's a cemetery that was
outside of the city wall where all the non-Catholics were buried.
(non-Catholics were not allowed to be buried within city limits)
It was hastily created during the yellow
fever epidemic. Often times, many bodies were buried
together, just in order to keep up. This tombstone
belongs to a little girl and they say that some
nights, her face appears on the tombstone.
Here is a site to learn more about the cemetery.
The kids went on a dig at an archaeological park.
They found items that they had to identify as
echo-facts or artifacts. Ian found some bones
and some pottery fragments.
Ian's sample after writing with a quill pen and ink.
We learned about what school would have been like in
the 1800's. It would have been an honor to have
a teacher. The teacher slept and ate at various
homes in the city. If you got into trouble at
school, you got into double trouble at home.
The kids were shocked to learn that teachers
were allowed to paddle when students
misbehaved.
After "class", the kids were sent out to do chores that would
have been typical of an 1800's child. Here Ian is pumping water
to do laundry. There was also a plow, lasso, and the
wash boards for the laundry.There were also games for the kids
to try, checkers or a hula hoop that you tapped with a stick.
What a far cry form our world of YouTube and Nintendo DS.
After the archaeological park, we went to an alligator farm.
This is an albino gator, first discovered in 1987. The
albino's worst enemy is the sun. The sun aids in digestion for
the regular gator but for the albino, it will burn while
waiting for the assistance, often causing sun poisoning.
A komodo dragon,
that wouldn't look at me!
This gator was no match for our boys!
mmm...look at those snappers!
My boys, Chris, Ian and Jake.
These are the 3 that were lucky
enough to be assigned to me! :)
