The Fountain of Youth: St. Augustine’s Quirky, Peacock-Filled Park
On the spot where Ponce de Leon supposedly searched for eternal youth, St. Augustine’s oldest attraction mixes a spring, peacocks, cannon blasts, and genuine history.
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Marineland: The World’s First Oceanarium on Florida’s Coast
Opened in 1938 near St. Augustine as an underwater movie studio, Marineland was the world’s first oceanarium and the original Florida attraction. It is still here.
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Gamble Rogers: The Florida Folk Legend Who Died Saving a Stranger at Flagler Beach
Gamble Rogers was Florida’s greatest folk musician and storyteller, a fingerstyle guitar virtuoso who built a universe out of small-town Florida life. In 1991, he gave his life trying to save a drowning swimmer at Flagler Beach. A state park bears his name.
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Ray Charles: The Blind Boy from a Tiny Florida Town Who Reinvented American Music
Ray Charles lost his sight in Greenville, Florida, found a piano, and studied music at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine before changing the world.
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Henry Flagler: The Oil Baron Who Built Florida From the Top Down
Henry Flagler made his fortune in oil, then spent it building railroads, hotels, and entire cities down the length of Florida. His Over-Sea Railroad to Key West was called the Eighth Wonder of the World.
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The Datil Pepper: St. Augustine’s 200-Year-Old Secret Ingredient
This fiery, sweet pepper grows almost nowhere else on Earth. How Minorcan settlers made the datil St. Augustine’s most guarded ingredient.
