City Gates - St Augustine
Posted by: 
Norfolk12
N 29° 53.874 W 081° 18.810
17R E 469732 N 3307513
The City Gates at St Augustine, Florida.This photo was taken in August 1947, and show's the City Gates .The cannons are no longer there . Here we are 61 years later at the same gates. the background has changed considerably.
Waymark Code: WM4PVF
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 09/17/2008
Views: 59
OLD CITY GATES, ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA
Situated at the north end of St. George Street, these ancient pillars were once the only entrance to the enclosed city.
Saint Augustine Florida is the oldest European city in the United States. The area was first visited by Ponce de Leon in 1513, but it was Juan Menendez de Aviles who established the first settlement, almost half a century before the first English settlers landed at Jamestown. St. Augustine grew to become the Spanish center of power in North America for almost 200 years.
The gates, as we see them today, were built of stone, but the rest of the wall was of logs stood on end. On the outer side of this wall was a moat, or deep ditch filled with water, and the approach to the gates was over a drawbridge which was pulled up at night. An additional line of defense, consisting of a breast-works of earth, having on its summit several rows of Spanish bayonets, planted so closely as to be almost impenetrable, extended from the northern wall south on what is now the line of Cordova Street to a point almost abreast the barracks, from where it ran and joined the Matanzas River
The gates nowadays are a tourist attraction and lead to The older part of town.
Year photo was taken: 1947
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