Today was very relaxing. From Daytona Beach I headed north up highway A1A to Jacksonville. The stretch of A1A from Daytona to St. Augustine is the most scenic in terms of feeling like you are on the perimeter. You can see the ocean for much of the way and, even when the dunes obstruct the view, it feels coastal, rather than just a highway connecting communities.

St. Augustine is very attractive and is the oldest city in the US.. It was founded by the Spanish in 1565 and the first place I visited was the Castillo de San Marcos which is the oldest surviving fort in the US and was completed around 1700. I can imagine that life in a fort is probably not a great existence but the pleasant weather and views must have helped when serving here. After leaving the Castillo I walked around the nearby historic district. There is a beautiful Spanish cathedral, the impressive architecture of Flagler College and some of the shop buildings lining the narrow streets date back to 1750. All very peaceful and human scaled.

Next, I continued north on A1A to Jacksonville but this section was not scenic. After taking a detour inland to get across the St. John’s river I headed back to the coast to visit the oldest plantation building in Florida, Kingsley Plantation. Here the National Park Service focuses on the triangular trading pattern of goods and slaves between Europe, Africa and North America and the life of slaves on southern plantations. This plantation actually had a boat dock where slaves were “delivered”. The interesting thing is that Kingsley’s wife was black and, after Florida was sold to the US by the Spanish, the family had to move to Haiti in order for her to retain all the rights of a citizen that she had had under Spanish rule. Despite the horrible scenes that were described the experience of visiting the plantation was very calming.

Finally I drove to interstate 95 north of Jacksonville ready to head to Savannah tomorrow. To follow my route you can view the map/video here.

The fort in St. Augustine is a classic with  star shaped outer walls, a moat and a rectangular central fortress.  It also has a great view!The cathedralThe historic districtand classic Flagler College through the trees.
The Kingsley plantation house dates from around 1798The slave cabins were tiny but built from a type of concrete made with shells so the ruins of most are still present.