Follow GOLF · @fogolf
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Follow GOLF · @fogolf
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lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 155 posts · Server octodon.social

Day 7

We drove to Jacksonville to visit the Cummer Museum and get pick-and-mix gummies for my roommate (the only souvenir she wants from my trips 😅). The Cummer Museum was interesting but the gardens were closed, which was disappointing.

Some things I googled while there:

1. Rockwell Kent. The museum had an exhibit of his illustrations for the complete works of Shakespeare. I didn't like them at all and was curious about how he got into illustrating books. Turns out he had a pretty interesting life!

2. James McBay. He taught himself how to make etchings. I really like some of his pieces--somehow it looks as though the ink is floating right above the page.

3. Richard E. Norman. He's a white guy who made silent films featuring 100% Black casts in the 1920s, largely because he realized Black audiences were an underserved market.

We fly home tomorrow!

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 154 posts · Server octodon.social

Day 6

We had planned to hit Fort Matanzas in the morning and the beach in the afternoon. Fort Matanzas can only be reached by a National Park Service-run ferry. We showed up before 9:30 (the first ferry of the day) and learned all the ferries were booked up until 11:30, so we just spent some time walking around the area instead.

After wandering around for a little we got intercepted by a volunteer who was about to give a nature walk. We joined and learned about the ecological diversity of the area. He also pointed out all of the fiddler crab burrows on the walkway.

At some point between when we arrived at the ferry dock and when we went to lunch we got covered in chiggers. Well, mostly my brother did. I joked that they liked his linen shirt more than the polyester UPF shirts my mom and I were wearing. We brushed him off a couple times before getting Aussie pies for lunch. Then mom and I headed to the beach while my brother took the car back to the rental to take a shower.

The beach was....fine? My mom and I were disappointed that it didn't really have a beachy smell (like the beaches in New Jersey). Turns out that's a significant part of the beach experience for me. And before you say covid, I can still smell other things!

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 153 posts · Server octodon.social

Day 5 (pt 3)

Just want to add this last photo of the St Photios Greek Orthodox Shrine. Our tour guide at the cathedral recommended we see it. The shrine is nice, but it also had a bunch of information about the history of the St. Augustine Minorcans. The information was more detailed than anything I found online or at any of the other tourist stops, so I definitely recommend it.

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 152 posts · Server octodon.social

Day 5 (pt 2)

1. An exhibit from the Gonzalez-Alvarez house (sorry about the poor quality)

2. The front of the Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine

3. Inside the cathedral. The ceiling is painted the red of the Spanish royal family (in honor of their contribution toward building the cathedral originally). The beams used to be concealed by a flat ceiling, but when they were doing renovations in 1964 they realized the beams looked really nice. They're covered by painted plywood now so that they can run concealed electrical cables along the beams.

4. When the cathedral was getting renovated in 1964 they commissioned Hugo Ohlms to paint a number of murals. He painted them, but they didn't last. The cathedral was built of coquina, which is very porous. Water is constantly getting absorbed and released from the stone. Instead, they had Ohlms paint the murals on boards that could then be affixed to the walls.

This particular mural is displayed in a staircase connected to the sacristy because it depicts a bishop getting tortured, which isn't really appropriate for children to see.

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 151 posts · Server octodon.social

Day 5 (Pt 1)

We visited the Gonzalez-Alvarez house in the morning and the backstage tour of Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine in the afternoon. Our tour guide for the cathedral also recommended the St. Photios Greek Orthodox Shrine, so we visited that after the cathedral tour.

The first photo was taken in one of the original rooms of the Gonzales-Alvarez house. The house began as a two-room coquina building that housed one of the Spanish soldiers who worked at the Castillo de San Marcos and his family. Successive owners added additional rooms and a second floor.

The photo has a rat rack--a shelf that is suspended from the ceiling by ropes in such a way that it will swing when disturbed. Rats were a big problem at the time, so people would keep their food ok a rat rack and attach bells to it so that they can hear if a rat is getting into their food.

I'm having trouble getting the rest of the photos to upload, so I'll post the rest of the day later.

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 149 posts · Server octodon.social

Day 4

The Lightener Museum! This is probably my favorite type of museum--one where the collection is largely formed by one person's particular interests and obsessions.

Otto Lightner was a big proponent of Hobbies. During the Great Depression he encouraged people who were out of work to get a hobby because that would keep them occupied and out of trouble.

The Lightner Museum is located in the health spa and indoor pool area of former Hotel Alcazar. The indoor pool area is now the cafe. Overall, a cool building with cool history and a cool collection of objects.

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 147 posts · Server octodon.social

Day 3

We visited the Ximenez-Fatio house in the morning and has planned to do the backstage cathedral tour in the afternoon. Turns out the cathedral was closed for the day, so we did the Old Jail tour instead.

The Ximenez-Fatio house was interesting. It was used as a boarding house for a good chunk of its existence. The floor covering in the second picture was made of old sailcloth. It was painted and lacquered to make it more durable.

The Old Jail tour seemed more geared toward being kid-friendly. Learning about the absolutely horrific living conditions was....educational. The cells were meant to hold four people but often held many more. From the 1870 to sometime in the 1930s (I think) it was legal in Florida to rent prisoners out in chain gangs. The jail was in use until the 1950s!

What the tour completely glossed over was that, based on the photos on display, most of the prisoners were Black. Which, of course they were. Florida is a former slave state. Imprisoning Black people and renting them out to farmers on chains gangs is the closest they could get to slavery after the civil war, and it was really weird for the tour to not mention that at all.

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 145 posts · Server octodon.social

We visited the Castillo de San Marcos today and had a great time! We even got to see a cannon drill demonstration where they explained that if, during the first Spanish period, it looked like the fort was going to be attacked, some soldiers would be sent out in a boat to get reinforcements....from Havana. It took ten days to two weeks for them to make the trip, so the fort had to make sure it could hold out for at least a month.

#staugustinefl #castillodesanmarcos

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 144 posts · Server octodon.social

there is a rooster near (next door?) to where we are staying and it has been crowing on and off all day 😂

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

lorem ipsum · @friendlymilk
11 followers · 141 posts · Server octodon.social

Day 1

1. View from the plane on the way to Jacksonville
2. Live music at Jacksonville airport (on the way to baggage claim)
3. Inside St Augustine Lighthouse
4. Outside St Augustine Lighthouse

#staugustinefl

Last updated 2 years ago

Lunch view today.

#staugustinefl #hurricanepattys

Last updated 2 years ago