THE YEAR WAS 1565
6/3/2008 12:52:16 PM by Wave Editorial Staff
THE YEAR WAS 1565
The oldest continuous European settlement in North America is not where you would think. In fact, if you named anywhere in the northeastern U.S., you’d be off by about half the country. Said first settlement was in St. Augustine, Florida, which was in existence 55 years before the renowned Pilgrims made their famous landing in 1620 at Plymouth Rock. In 1513, the venerable explorer Juan Ponce de Leon came ashore in St. Augustine and claimed the land for Spain. King Phillip II solidified their hold by sending Pedro Menendez de Aviles to officially form a colony on the waterfront tropical site in 1565. As de Aviles made landfall on St. Augustine’s feast day, the city was so named. The Spanish retained control of this key nautical location until 1763. In 1586, Captain Sir Francis Drake spied the wooden watchtower that the Spanish used to watch for enemy attack from the crow’s nest of his boat and arrived to burn the then-wood and palm-thatch city to the ground. The British, however, did not officially take the city until 1764, when they added a waterfront fort of coquina rock and fortified it with a cannon to ward off attack from the sea. Spain retook the bustling (for its day) waterfront town again in 1784. The city became a U.S. territory in 1821. Today, the Old Town section has been restored and is a popular spot for tourists who are enthralled by tales of explorers, pirates, adventurers and, of course, more than one briny ghost.