Tag Archives: Juan Ponce de Leon

The First Coast is a Great Place to Spend Eternity “Skeletons…. We all have them. What I like about them is that they’re fearless. They do whatever they want because the worst thing that could happen to them has clearly already happened to them,” laughs Michigan artist , creator of the quirky “Greetings from St. Augustine” series. If you’ve spent time in the Ancient City, you’ve likely seen her work. It’s hard to forget. Marfia, a graphic designer of 30 years, started experimenting with pastels in 2011 when her family was living in Jacksonville. Some of her early pieces—landscapes, buildings, …

Much has been written about the , but it’s difficult to put into context exactly what this place means to the history of St. Augustine until you walk the grounds of the archaeological park. Stand exactly where Spanish explorer is said to have landed, touch the colored soil deposits echoing the footprint of structures built by those who stood there first, and sip from the freshwater spring from which the park is named. Located at 11 Magnolia Avenue, the 15-acre waterfront site features a spring house, a Navigator’s Planetarium that details the celestial techniques used by early European explorers Ponce …

BY GEORGE GARDNER In April 1513, Spanish explorer landed in Florida, the first of many Europeans to come. Historians generally believe that Juan Ponce came to shore somewhere between the mouth of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville and Cape Canaveral, however Juan Ponce’s last known longitude places his historic landing somewhere near or at St. Augustine. In March, 1565, it was the year after Michelangelo’s death, Shakespeare’s birth and some 52 years since Ponce de Leon first sighted La Florida. It all began in the court of Spain’s , who was determined to establish a permanent Spanish settlement on …