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St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city, offers visitors a unique blend of Florida sunshine, Mediterranean architecture, incredible beaches, unparalleled history and some of the best golf to be found anywhere. It is a place recognized for both its history and its hospitality. Selected by CNN as one of the Top 10 historic destinations in the nation, additional honors were awarded to St. Augustine in 2006 when AAA named it one of the ten most "walkable" cities in North America. In addition, Family Fun magazine readers selected St. Augustine as the best Family Tourist Town in the Southeast for four consecutive years. This ancient city along with nearby Ponte Vedra and the 42 miles of magnificent beaches they share, offers education and fun in a setting like no other in the United States. Whether it's kayaking through the coastal beauty of the area's salt marshes, visiting historic sites such as the massive 17th century Castillo de San Marcos, soaking up the rays along pristine beaches, or enjoying the luxurious amenities of the fine resorts in the area, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra and The Beaches offer something special for nearly every taste and interest. Early History St. Augustine's history far exceeds that of any other European settlement in what is now the United States. In fact, when the nearly exhausted Pilgrims sat down to the first Thanksgiving dinner they undoubtedly thought of what they had left behind in England. At that same time, the residents of St. Augustine were warm and comfortable in a city that was the only home they had known for three generations.  The architecture of St. Augustine boasts Spanish, French and Victorian flavors. Founded in 1565 by Admiral Don Pedro Menendez, St. Augustine was first and foremost a staging area for a military operation that successfully eliminated a French colony that had been unwisely established in Spanish Florida. For much of the next 250 years, the people of St. Augustine successfully battled against hurricanes, pirates, English raiders, plagues, and Indian uprisings to defend a city that served as the last rest stop for the Spanish fleets before they began the long crossing of the Atlantic bearing the treasures of the New World to Spain. The only interruption in Spanish rule came for a brief period of 20 years (1763-1784) when the British controlled Florida. Although the rule was short-lived, architectural reminders and colorful re-enactments continue to commemorate the "British Period" in the town's history. In 1821, after the glories of the Spanish Empire faded, Florida became a U.S. territory and St. Augustine was transformed into an American frontier town, which served as the gateway to the strange and exotic land known as Florida. Rivaled only by Key West as the most important town in the newly created state of Florida, St. Augustine languished in the sun and served as a stepping off point from the civility of the Southern United States into an ominous, unsettled land populated predominately by alligators and other dangerous reptiles. St. Augustine goes modern In the late 1880s, the arrival in town of millionaire Henry Flagler changed St. Augustine forever. A man of vision with the wealth to transform his dreams into reality, Flagler transformed sleepy St. Augustine into the ultimate winter escape for America's "swells" – the folks with unlimited money and impeccable social credentials. To accommodate his guests, Flagler built a series of hotels in St. Augustine that were unrivaled anywhere in terms of opulence and amenities.
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