South of Jacksonville, Florida, along the First Coast, lies the oldest European settlement in America, the city of St. Augustine, established in 1565.  Also known as the Ancient City, St. Augustine is an excellent spot for travelers wanting to take in four hundred and forty-five years of history in the New World.  It’s easily reached by any number of luxury hotels Florida has throughout the area, and offers the history buff a number of interesting sites, such as Fort Matanzas, the Castillo de San Marcos, or the Lightner Museum.

Fort Mantanzas was built around 1740 to 1742 and served as a watchtower fort for the Spanish.  The fort enabled the Spanish to see enemy vessels as they came from the south along the Matanzas River.  Major conflict occurred in that time as European nations struggled to control the New World; the fort is now a national monument.   Like Fort Mantanzas and Fort Moses (to the north), the Castillo de San Marcos (the Castle of San Marcos) also acted as protection for St. Augustine.  Constructed in 1672 to help Spain defend its city, the Castillo changed hands many times over the decades to follow, from Spain to the British to Spain again, and finally, to the United States.

In the whole of St. Augustine, one of the more interesting museums is the Lightner Museum, due to its unique collections, including mummies and shrunken heads, crystal and stained glass.  When it opened in 1889, the building was Henry Flagler’s Alcazar Hotel, a place with an indoor pool and a retractable roof, with a casino and a spa, even a movie theater.  Chicago publisher, Otto C. Lightner purchased the hotel from railroad magnate Flagler, and then lived there, keeping this varied assortment of objects here.    The museum, featuring “relics of a gilded age,” was opened in 1946 and later given to the city of St. Augustine.

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Tags: Fort Mantanzas, Lightner Museum, luxury hotels Florida