It all started 50 years ago, when first I read about Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum in St. Augustine, Fla. At the time I was a fifth-grader in St. Paul , Minn., struck by the urge to see this house of wonder. Florida seemed a world away, almost as impossible to comprehend as the bizarre, yet fascinating objects collected by Mr. Ripley during his exotic travels around the world.
Recently my wish finally came true, when I visited this stranger-than-fiction museum on Florida’s 42-mile-long “Historic Coast,” which, between St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra, is billed as “the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the U.S.” This quaint Florida town somehow manages to combine Old World mystique with New Age scary in a delightful way.
Start with the paranormal. Ripley’s Ghost Train Adventure was voted St. Augustine’s “Best Ghost Tour of 2013.” This is seriously spooky, as you can investigate the city’s most haunted sites with EMF meters and Laser Grids.
Then there’s the more conventional sightseeing. History buffs, have at it. There’s the Lightner Museum, an homage to the Gilded Age with three floors of collections that include a stunning exhibit of glass works by Louis Comfort Tiffany. This elegant structure was the former Alcazar Hotel built by railroad magnet Henry M. Flagler.
Of course, that era is positively post-modern in the grand history of the town. This year St. Augustine celebrated a 500-year anniversary—a long time since Juan Ponce de Leon arrived seeking the Fountain of Youth. This happened, according to lore, in 1513, 94 years before the Jamestown Settlement.
If you like American history, this is your place. Start in the town’s Historic District, a National Historic Landmark. St. Augustine was originally the site of a Spanish military base established by Don Pedro Menendez de Avilez in 1565. In ensuing decades the town grew around the base, all the way through the 1800s. The district today has preserved the distinctive plan common of a 16th century Spanish Colonial walled town, according to the National Park Service website.
Within the Historic District, there is no better illustration of this past than the city’s two-acre Colonial Quarter. Spread across the grounds are reproductions of a 16th century Spanish city, a 17th-century Spanish fortified town, an 18th century Spanish garrison town and an 18th-century British colony.
There is so much packed into every nook and cranny that it takes the Orange and Green Trolley to get a wider view of what you want to explore. The narrated tour offers 22 stops and reboarding privileges. However I opted for the Gold Tours, operated by a delightful British couple with a private golf cart-style transport. On the day we visited, it was decorated with lights and flowers for a wedding party.
And they weren’t the only ones. Countless couples flock to St. Augustine at all times of the year to get married amid its Old World charm. At least five weddings were in progress the day we toured, with bridal parties coming and going from every curve in the cobblestone streets. There are so many irresistible venues for weddings, anniversaries and special life events in St. Augustine that I was compelled to pick my own favorites. The list ranged from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park to the St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum, to my favorite, the Villa Zorayda Museum. Built in 1883, the museum was inspired by the legendary Alhambra Castle in Granada, Spain. The owner told me that wedding ceremonies take place in the Court of Lions, truly a bastion of Moorish architecture able to handle up to 100 guests. Pending nuptials on your mind? Check out the wedding scene at other venues at www.FHCcelebrations.com
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that amid all the history, the ocean is right there, too. In fact, there are 42 miles of Atlantic beaches waiting for when you’re ready to retreat from the ghosts and other spookiness. Just one more reason to visit St. Augustine.
Find out more at www.FloridasHistoricCoast.com
