St. Augustine is a magnificent city, and you’ll never be at a loss for things to learn and do. No St. Augustine vacation would be complete, for instance, without a trip to the Fort San Marcos. This sits in a quiet area of the city, looking out over Matanzas Bay. It was built by the Spanish way back in the 1600s to protect the city from rival British troops. When the Europeans set out to build forts in Florida, though, they faced a serious dilemma as there was no stone to be found anywhere in the area. Their workaround for this came in the form of coquina, an extremely hard, stone-like material made from compacted seashells. It actually turned out to be a miracle material at the Castillo de San Marcos; ships’ cannon balls simply bounced off its massive, 14-feet-thick walls. The fort stood strong against the British for years, although it was eventually taken. It later stood as a stronghold for both the United States and the Confederacy.
If you’re still looking for more history in this area, head the St. Augustine RV rental over to the Old Jail, where you can learn more about the conditions of Florida inmates during the late 19
th
century. This is also a stop on a couple of this city’s famous ghost tours. To hear the tour guides tell it, St. Augustine is one of the most haunted cities in the entire country. Another fun historic stop is the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. This museum celebrates conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon’s exhaustive effort to find this mythic fountain in Florida. You can even try some of the famous water yourself. Who knows. It just might work!
St. Augustine also offers a huge number of museums. The Lightner Museum, for instance, is housed in the former Alcazar Hotel, built by railroad tycoon Henry Flagler. It has a massive collection of 19th-century
American art across all types of visual media, as well as a couple more eccentric highlights. These include a mummy, shrunken heads, cigar labels, and art made from human hair. Intrigued? For more experiences in the extraordinary, check out St. Augustine’s Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, a museum dedicated to unusual artifacts and trivia from all around the world. Other fun museums include the Old Florida Museum, an inexpensive yet high-quality and family-friendly look at Florida in the 1800s, and Potter’s Wax Museum.
Getting around the city is often a bit of a challenge on foot, especially during the heat of the summer. A St. Augustine motorhome rental will most definitely help with that. While finding parking might be a bit of a challenge, there are usually a couple free parking spots in the suburbs around the city.
