USA > Florida > Saint Johns County > Saint Augustine > History and antiquities of St. Augustine, Florida > Part 10
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women are deservedly celebrated for their charms: their lovely black eyes have a vast deal of expression ; their complexions are a clear brunette ; much attention is paid to the arrangement of their hair ; at mass they are always well dressed in black silk basquinas (petticoats), with the little mantilla (black lace veil) over their head; the men in their military costumes; good order and temperance are their characteristic virtues; but the vice of gambling too often profanes their social haunts, from which even the fair sex are not excluded. Two days following our arrival, a ball was given by some of the inhabitants, to which I was invited. The elder couples opened it with minuets, succeeded by the younger couples displaying their handsome light figures in Spanish dances." #
The old inhabitants still speak in terms of fond regret of the place when embowered in its orange groves, and the pleasantness of its old customs and usages. Dancing formed one of their most common amusements, as it does now. The posey dance, now become obsolete, was then of ahnost daily occurrence, and was introduced in the following manner : The females of the family erect in a room of their house a neat little arbor, dressed with pots and garlands of flowers, and lit up brightly with candles. This is understood by the gentleman as an invitation to drop in and admire the beauty of their decorations. In the meantime. the lady who has prepared it, selects a partner from among her visitors, and in token of her preference, honors him with a bou- quet of flowers. The gentleman who receives the bouquet be- comes then, for the nonce, king of the ball, and leads out the fair donor as queen of the dance: the others take partners, and the ball is thus inaugurated, and may continue several successive evenings. Should the lady's choice fall upon an unwilling swain. which seldom happened. he could be excused by assuming the ex- penses of the entertainment. These assemblies were always in- formal, and frequented by all classes. all meeting on a level ; but were conducted with the utmost politeness and decorum, for which the Spanish character is so distinguished.
The carnival amusements are still kept up to some extent. but with little of the taste and wit which formerly characterized them, and without which they degenerate into mere buffoonery.
The graceful Spanish dance, so well suited in its slow and regular movements to the inhabitants of a warm elimate, has al- ways retained the preference with the natives of the place, who
Voyage to Spanish Main. London, 1819. Page 116, et seq.
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dance it with that native grace and elegance of movement which seems easy and natural for every one, but is seldom equaled by the Anglo-Saxon.
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OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA.
CHAPTER XVII.
TRANSFER OF FLORIDA TO THE UNITED STATES-AMERICAN OCCUPATION-ANCIENT BUILDINGS, ETC.
On the 10th day of July, in the year 1821, the standard of Spain, which had been raised two hundred and fifty-six years before over St. Augustine, was finally lowered forever from the walls over which it had so long fluttered, and the stars and stripes of the youngest of nations rose where, sooner or later, the hand of destiny would assuredly have placed them.
It was intended that the change of flags should have taken place on the 4th of July ; owing to a detention, this was frus- trated; but the inhabitants celebrated the 4th with a handsome public ball at the governor's house.
The Spanish garrison, and officers connected with it, returned to Cuba, and some of the Spanish families; but the larger por- tion of the inhabitants remained. A considerable influx of in- habitants from the adjoining States took place, and the town speedily assumed a somewhat American character. The propor- tion of American population since the change of flags, has been about one-third. Most of the native inhabitants converse with equal fluency in either language.
In the year 1823, the legislative council of Florida held its second session in the government house at St. Augustine. Gov- ernor W. P. Duval was the first governor after the organization of the territory. The Ralph Ringwood Sketches of Irving have given a wide celebrity to the character of our worthy and origi- nal first governor, now recently deceased.
During the month of February, 1835, East Florida was vis- ited by a frost much more severe than any before experienced. A severe northwest wind blew ten days in succession, but more violently for about three days. During this period, the mercury sunk to seven degrees above zero. The St. Johns river was frozen several rods from the shore. All kinds of fruit trees were
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THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
killed to the ground : many of them never started again, even from the roots. The wild groves suffered equally with those cul- tivated. The orange had become the staple of Florida commerce : several millions were exported from the St. Johns and St. Augus- tine during the two previous years. Numerous groves had just been planted out, and extensive nurseries could hardly supply the demand for young trees. Some of the groves had, during the previous autumn, brought to their owners, one, two, and three thousand dollars; and the increasing demand for this fruit, opened in prospect mines of wealth to the inhabitants.
"Then came a frost, a withering frost."
Some of the orange groves in East Florida were estimated at from five to ten thousand dollars, and even more. They were at once rendered valueless. The larger part of the population at St. Au- gustine had been accustomed to depend on the produce of their little groves of eight or ten trees, to purchase their coffee, sugar. and other necessaries from the stores; they were left without resource.
"The town of St. Augustine, that heretofore appeared like a rustic village, their white houses peeping from among the clus- tered boughs and golden fruit of their favorite tree, beneath whose shade the foreign invalid cooled his fevered limbs, and imbibed health from the fragrant air,-how was she fallen ! Dry, unsightly poles, with ragged bark, stick up around her dwell- ings ; and where the mocking-bird once delighted to build her nest, and tune her lovely songs, owls hoot at night, and sterile winds whistle through the leafless branches. Never was a place rendered more desolate." * --
The groves were at once replanted, and soon bid fair to yield most abundantly ; when, in 1842, an insect was introduced into the country, called orange coccus, which spread over the whole country with wonderful rapidity, and almost totally destroyed every tree it fastened upon. Of late, the ravages of this insect seem less destructive, and the groves have begun to resume their bearing ; these add to the beauty of the residences of St. Augus- tine, with their glossy deep-green leaves, and golden fruit : and hopes of an entire restoration are now confidently entertained.
* Williams' Florida, pp. 18, et seq.
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CITY GATES.
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OF ST. AUGUSTINE. FLORIDA
In December, 1835. the war with the Seminole Indians broke out ; and for some years St. Augustine was full of the pomp and circumstance of war. It was dangerous to venture beyond the gates ; and many sad scenes of Indian massacre took place in the neighborhood of the city. During this period, great apparent prosperity prevailed ; property was valuable, rents were high ; speculators projected one city on the north of the town. and an- other on the west ; a canal to the St. Johns, and also a railroad to Picolata; and great hopes of future prosperity were enter- tained. With the cessation of the war, the importance of St. Au- gustine diminished : younger communities took the lead of it. aided by superior advantages of location, and greater enterprise, and St. Augustine has subsided into the pleasant, quiet, dolce far niente of to-day, living upon its old memories, contented, peace- ful, and agreeable, and likely to remain without much change for the future.
Of the public buildings, it may be remarked that the extensive British barracks were destroyed by fire in 1792; and that the Franciscan Convent was occupied as it had been before, as barracks for the troops not in garrison in the fort. The appearance of these buildings has been much changed by the extensive repairs and alterations made by the United States government. It had formerly a large circular look-out upon the top, from which a beautiful view of the surrounding country was obtained. Its walls are probably the oldest foundations in the city.
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The present United States Court-house, now occupied by many public offices, was the residence of the Spanish governors. It has been rebuilt by the United States; and its former quaint and interesting appearance has been lost, in removing its look-out tower, and balconies. and the handsome gateway. mentioned by De Brahm, which is said to have been a fine specimen of Doric architecture. *
Trinity Episcopal Church was commenced in 1827, and con- secrated in 1833, by Bishop Bowen, of South Carolina. The Presbyterian Church was built about 1830, and the Methodist chapel about 1846.
* It is said to have been taken down by the contractor to form the foun- dation of his kitchen.
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The venerable-looking building on the bay, at the corner of Green lane and Bay street, is considered the oldest building in the place, and has evidently been a fine building in its day. It was the residence of the attorney-general, in English times.
The monument on the public square was erected in 1812-3. upon the information of the adoption of the Spanish constitution. as a memorial of that event, in pursuance of a royal order to that effect, directed to the public authorities of all the provincial towns. Geronimo Alvarez was the Alcalde under whose direc- tion it was erected. The plan of it was made by Sr. Hernandez. the father of the late general Hernandez. A short time after it was put up. the Spanish constitution having had a downfall, orders were issued by the government that all the monuments erected to the constitution throughout its dominions, should be demol- ished. The citizens of St. Augustine were unwilling to see their monument torn down; and with the passive acquiescence of the governor. the marble tablets inscribed PLAZA DE LA CONSTITU- CION being removed, the monument itself was allowed to stand ; and thus it remains to this day, the only monument in existence to commemorate the farce of the constitution of 1812. In 1818. the tablets were restored without objection.
The bridge and causeway are the work of the government of the United States. The present sea-wall was built between 1835 and 1842, by the United States, at an expense of one hundred thousand dollars.
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OF ST. AUGUSTINE. FLORIDA.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PRESENT APPEARANCE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, AS GIVEN BY THE AUTHOR OF THANATOPSIS-ITS CLIMATE AND SALUBRITY.
St. Augustine has now attained, for this side of the Atlan- tic, a period of most respectable antiquity. In a country like America. where States are ushered into existence in the full de- velopment of maturity, where large cities rise like magic from the rude forest, where the " oldest inhabitant " recollects the cut- ting down of the lofty elms which shadowed the wigwam of the red man, perchance on some spot now in the heart of a great city ; an antiquity of three centuries would be esteemed as almost reaching back (compared with modern growth) to the days of the Pharaohs.
The larger number of early settlements were unsuitably lo- cated, and were forced to be abandoned on account of their un- healthiness; but the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine has re- mained for near three hundred years where it was originally planted: and the health of its inhabitants has, for this long pe- riod, given it a deserved reputation for salubrity and exemption from disease, attributable to locality or extraneous influences or causes.
The great age attained by its inhabitants was remarked by De Brahm ; the number and healthfulness of the children that throng its streets, attract now, as they did then, the attention of strangers. This salubrity is easily accounted for, by the almost insular position of the city, npon a narrow neck of land nearly surrounded by salt water; the main shore, a high and healthy pine forest and sandy plains, so near the ocean as to be fanned by its constant breezes, and within the sound of its echoing waves; a situation combining more local advantages for salu- brity could hardly be imagined. While it will never probably increase to any great extent in population, it will hardly be likely to decrease. Its health, easy means of support, unambitious class of inhabitants. with their strong attachments and family and
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local ties, will contribute to maintain St. Augustine as the time- honored ancient city, with its permanent population. and its vis- itors for health. for centuries perhaps yet to come.
I cannot, perhaps, better conclude these historic notices than. by giving the impressions of the author of Thanatopsis,* one whose poetic fame will endure as long as American literature ex- ists. Writing from St. Augustine in April, 1843. he says:
"At length we emerged upon a shrubby plain, and finally eame in sight of this oldest city of the United States, seated among its trees on a sandy swell of land, where it has stood for three hundred years. I was struck with its ancient and homely aspect, even at a distance, and could not help likening it to pictures which I had seen of Dutch towns, though it wanted a wind-mill or two to make the resemblance perfect. We drove into a green square, in the midst of which was a monument erected to commemorate the Spanish constitution of 1812, and thence through the narrow streets of the city to our hotel.
"I have called the streets narrow. In few places are they wide enough to allow two carriages to pass abreast. I was told that they were not orig- inally intended for carriages; and that in the time when the town belonged to Spain, many of them were floored with an artificial stone, composed of shells and mortar, which in this elimate takes and keeps the hardness of roek; and that no other vehicle than a handbarrow was allowed to pass over them. In some places you see remnants of this ancient pavement ; but for the most part it has been ground into dust under the wheels of the carts and carriages introduced by the new inhabitants. The old houses, built of a kind of stone which is seemingly a pure concretion of small shells, overhang the streets with their wooden balconies; and the gardens between the houses are fenced on the side of the street with high walls of stone. Peeping over these walls you see branches of the pomegranate, and of the orange tree now fragrant with flowers, and rising yet higher, the leaning boughs of the fig with its broad luxuriant leaves. Occasionally you pass the ruins of houses-walls of stone with arches and stair-cases of the same material, which once belonged to stately dwellings. You meet in the streets with men of swarthy complexions and foreign physiognomy, and you hear them speaking to each other in a strange language. You are told that these are the remains of those who inhabited the country under the Spanish dominion, and that the dialect you have heard is that of the island of Minorca.
"'Twelve years ago,' said an acquaintance of mine, 'when I first vis- ited St. Augustine, it was a fine old Spanish town. A large proportion of the houses which you now see roofed like barns, were then flat-roofed ; they were all of shell rock, and these modern wooden buildings were then not erected. That old fort which they are now repairing, to fit it for receiv- ing a garrison, was a sort of ruin, for the outworks had partly fallen, and
# Bryant.
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it stood unoccupied by the military, a venerable monument of the Spanish dominion. But the orange groves were the wealth and ornament of St. Augustine, and their produce maintained the inhabitants in comfort. Orange trees of the size and height of the pear tree, often rising higher than the roofs of the houses, embowered the town in perpetual verdure. They stood so close in the groves that they excluded the sun ; and the at -. mosphere was at all times aromatie with their leaves and fruit, and in spring the fragrance of the flowers was almost oppressive.'
"The old fort of St. Mark, now called Fort Marion-a foolish change of name-is a noble work, frowning over the Matanzas, which flows be- tween St. Augustine and the island of Anastasia; and it is worth making a long journey to see. No record remains of its original construction ; but it is supposed to have been erected about a hundred and fifty years since,* and the shell rock of which it is built is dark with time. We saw where it had been struck with cannon balls, which, instead of splitting the rock, became imbedded and clogged among the loosened fragments of shell. This rock is, therefore, one of the best materials for fortification in the world. We were taken into the ancient prisons of the fort dungeons, one of which was dimly lighted by a grated window, and another entirely with- out light ; and by the flame of a torch we were shown the half obliterated inscriptions serawled on the walls long ago by prisoners. But in another corner of the fort, we were taken to look at the secret cells, which were discovered a few years since in consequence of the sinking of the earth over a narrow apartment between them. These cells are deep under ground, vaulted overhead, and without windows. In one of them a wood- en machine was found, which some supposed might have been a rack, and in the other a quantity of human bones. The doors of these cells had been walled up and concealed with stucco, before the fort passed into the hands of the Americans.
"You cannot be in St. Augustine a day without hearing some of its inhabitants speak of its agreeable climate. During the sixteen days of my residence here, the weather has certainly been as delightful as I could imagine. We have the temperature of early June as June is known in New York. The mornings are sometimes a little sultry ; but after two or three hours a fresh breeze comes in from the sea sweeping through the broad piazzas, and breathing in at the windows. At this season it comes laden with the fragrance of the flowers of the Pride of India, and some- tinies of the orange tree, and sometimes brings the scent of roses, now in bloom. The nights are gratefully cool; and I have been told by a person who has lived here many years, that there are very few nights in summer when you can sleep without a blanket.
"An acquaintance of mine, an invalid, who has tried various climates, and has kept up a kind of running fight with death for many years, re- treating from country to country as he pursued. declares to me that the winter climate of St. Augustine is to be preferred to that of any part of Europe, even that of Sicily, and that it is better than the climate of the
* It is much more ancient.
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West Indies. He finds it genial and equable, at the same time that it is not enfeebling. The summer heats are prevented from being intense by the sea breeze, of which I have spoken. I have looked over the work of Dr. Forry on the climate of the United States, and have been surprised to see the uniformity of climate which he ascribes to Key West. As appears by the observations he has collected, the seasons at that place glide into each other by the softest gradations; and the heat never, even in midsummer, reaches that extreme which is felt in the higher latitudes of the American continent. The climate of Florida is, in fact, an insular elimate : the At- lantic on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico on the west, temper the airs that blow over it, making them cooler in summer and warmer in winter. I do not wonder, therefore, that it is so much the resort of invalids ; it would be more so if the softness of its atmosphere, and the beauty and serenity of its seasons were generally known. Nor should it be supposed that accom- modations for persons in delieate health are wanting; they are, in faet, be- coming better with every year, as the demand for them increases. Among the acquaintances whom I have made here, I remember many who having come hither for the benefit of their health, are detained for life by the amenity of the climate. 'It seems to me,' said an intelligent gentleman of this class, the other day, 'as if I could not exist out of Florida. When I go to the North, I feel most sensibly the severe extremes of the weather; the climate of Charleston itself appears harsh to me.'
"The negroes of St. Augustine are a good-looking specimen of the race, and have the appearance of being very well treated. You rarely see a negro in ragged clothing; and the colored children, though slaves, are often dressed with great neatness. In the colored people whom I saw in the Catholic church, I remarked a more agreeable, open, and gentle physi- ognomy than I have been accustomed to see in that class.
"Some old customs which the Minoreans brought with them from their native country, are still kept up. On the evening before Easter Sun- day, about eleven o'clock, I heard the sound of a serenade in the streets. Going out, I found a party of young men, with instruments of music. grouped about the window of one of the dwellings, singing a hymn in honor of the Virgin,# in the Mahonese dialect. They began, as I am told with tapping on the shutter. An answering knock within had told then; that their visit was welcome, and they immediately began the serenade. I no reply had been heard they would have passed on to another dwelling Igive the hymn as it was kindly taken down for me in writing, by a native of St. Augustine. I presume this is the first time that it has been put in print ; but I fear the copy has several corruptions, occasioned by the un. skilfulness of the copyist. The letter e, which I have put in italics, repre sents the guttural French e, or, perhaps, more nearly the sound of the u ir. the word but. The sh of our language is represented by sc followed by ai i or an e; the y, both hard and soft, has the same sound as in our lan guage.
* This song is usually called the FromaJardis.
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"· Disciarem lu dol Cantarem aub' alagria Y n'arem a da Las pascuas a Maria O Maria !
"'Sant Gabriel, Qui portaba la ambasciado Des nostro rey del cel, Estaran vos prenada Ya omitiada Tu o vais aqui serventa
Fia del Dieu contenta
Para fe lo que el vol Disciarem lu dol, &c.
"' Y a milla nit
Pariguero vos regina
A un Dieu infinit, Dintra una establina.
Y a milla dia,
Que los angles von cantant
Pau y abondant De la gloria de Dieu sol
Disciarem lu dol &c.
" Ya Libalam, Alla la terra santa
Nus nat Jesus
Aub' alagria tanta
Infant petit Que tot lu mon salvaria
Y ningu y bastaria Nu mes un Dieu tot sul Disciarem lu dol, &c.
"'Cuant de Orion lus
Tres reys la stralla veran Dieu omnipotent Adora lo vingaran
Un present inferan
De mil encens y or
A lu beneit seño Que conesce cual se vol
Disciarem lu dol. &c.
" 'Tot fu gayant Para cumplé la prumas Y lu Esperit sant De un angel fau gramas
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THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
Gran foc ences. Que crama lu curagia Dieu nos da lenguagia Para fe lo que Dieu vol Disciarem lu dol, &c.
"' Cuant trespasá De quest mon nostra Senora,
. Al cel s' empugia Sun fil la matescia ora O ! Emperadora Que del cel san eligida Lu rosa florida Mé respleuden que un sol Disciarem lu dol, &c.
"' Y el tercer gioru Que Jesuis resunta
Dieu y Aboroma
Que la mort triumfa
De alli se balla
Para perldra Lucife
An tot a sen penda
Que de nostro ser el sol
Disciarem lu dol, &c.'
"After this hymn, the following stauzas, soliciting the customary gift of cakes or eggs. are sung :
"'Ce set que vam cantant,
Regina celestial!
Damos pan y alagria
Y bonas festas tingan
Y vos da sus bonas festas
Danos dines de sus nous
Sempre tarem lus neans Uestas
Para recibi un grapat de nes,
Y el giorn de pascua florida
Alagramos y giuntament
As qui es mert par dar nos vida
Y via glorosiamente,
A questa casa esta empedrada
Bien halla que la empedro ;
San amo de aquesta casa Baldria duna un do Formagiado o empanada
Cucutta a Hao ; Cual se val casa rue grada,
Sol que no rue digas que no.'
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"The shutters are then opened by the people within, and a supply of cheese, cakes, or other pastry, or eggs, is dropped into a bag carried by one of the party ; who acknowledge the gift in the following lines, and then depart :
"'Aquesta casa reta empedrada Empedrada de cuatro vens ; Sun amo de aquesta casa . Es omo de compliment.'
"If nothing is given, the last line reads thus :
"' No es homo de compliment.'"
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THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
CHAPTER XIX.
ST. AUGUSTINE IN ITS OLD AGE-1565-1868.
Three hundred and three years have now passed over the walls of this venerable city. Ten generations of men and women have passed away since this ancient city had an existence and a name. One can look back to 1565 and picture to the mind the galleons of Spain anchored off its harbor ; see the gallant Adel- antado Menendez, clad in mail, preceded by the standards of Spain, and followed by his men at arms, his bowmen and his cavaliers, taking possession of the country in the name of his sovereign. The waves roll in upon the same shores now as they did then; the green, grassy marshes and oyster-clad banks pre- sent to our eyes the same appearance as they did to theirs; the white sandy beach which received the impress of the iron-clad heel of the cavalier, now yields to the pressure of your foot; the rustling pines along the shore cast their pleasant shadows over you as they did over them, and perchance the same eager thoughts of gain pervade your breast, as you pass beneath them, as filled the hearts and souls of those who long ago came seeking gold and wealth unmeasured upon those shores.
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