After leaving the “Space Coast” we set up camp just over the border in Georgia. Our RV Park is in a lovely setting and we have another nice site under the trees in a town called Kingsland (ironic for us from Queensland) just out of Jacksonville.
At the end of my last (proper) post we had passed through a pretty city called St Augustine’s on our way north. First chance we got we went back for a proper look at this very historic town. I will start the photos (what’s left of almost 250 after culling) with a pair of sign posts. Just have a close look at the dates. The Cathedral held it’s first mass there in 1565. That’s 205 years BEFORE Cook landed in Botany Bay. The second talks of forced immigration in 1768, two years before the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove. Ponce de Leon explored this area in 1513. St Augustine’s was founded by Pedro Menendez under orders from the King of Spain in 1565 and is considered the oldest continually lived in European established town in the USA. I could go on about this magnificent town and the huge number of old Spanish influenced architecture but instead here’s the Wikipedia link if you want to know more. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida) It is worth a look.
What I don’t have a photo of are the two hop on/hop off towed ‘tourist trains’ that take you around the town. The most prominent building(s) is Flagler College. The original building was built by Henry Flagler as the Ponce de León Hotel, in 1888 as a luxury hotel. Flagler was one of the founders of the company Standard Oil (now known as ExxonMobil amongst other subsidiaries) and was a well known builder of Railways and resorts particularly in Florida (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Flagler)
Following these are pics of Potter’s wax museum and many of the historic buildings in town. I suggest that where there is a photo of a sign try to zoom in to read the dates quoted on them. These are mind boggling when compared to the founding of Australia. There are a lot of recent points of interest too. The pic of Trinity Church shows the church that Martin Luther King Jr made his initial calls for equality in the USA. Several of the homes shown are also places where he stayed when in St Augustine’s as he never slept in the same house two nights in a row.
A few photos later on have shown the two different types of material used in construction. The bricks in the first wall is made of compressed shell and limestone. The second is not naturally constructed but made by man and is called “tabby brick”. The raw materials are excavated from an area on Amelia Island just to the north (over the Bridge of Lions shown in next photo). The oak tree known as The Senator is proven to be over 600 years old which is a feat for a species that normally have a life span of only 200-300 yrs. Following The Senator is a lovely pic of an oak lined avenue covered in Spanish Moss. The Florida School for the deaf and blind is the alma mater of one Ray Charles the great jazz/blues singer.
I could go on about the remaining pics but I’d bore you to death. Just enjoy the remaining photos. The “Ripley’s” is the original Ripley’s as he also lived here. After the Gates to the old town we move through more of the historic area before crossing the road to the Castillo de San Marcos. There are a bunch of old style homes typical of this area and some of the old jail. Finally I wrap up the pics with a shot of Salcedo House and then the Visitor Center. Yes, I am using the American spelling for ‘Centre’ as with other words.
Later in our Georgia stay we drove into Jacksonville (known locally as Jax) to look at the Adams Class DDG museum. More on that later but for this gallery I’ll tell you of another fantastic beach drive that got us home from Jax. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville,_Florida Jax is an unremarkable city on the St John’s River. It has a nice waterfront on a brown river. I’d suggest that it’s peat from the ‘glades the dominate the geography on the lower east coast of the USA. While there we noticed a punt pass by called “Pedal, Pedal, Drink”. The people on it were at a central bar drinking but at the same time they were pedalling to propel the punt forward. Exercise while you drink. Hmmmm!
From the CBD we drove out to Mayport Naval Base where we got a car ferry (at $6, good deal) to Fanning Island. This would be the start of another great beach drive (albeit in the rain again). We left the grey cruiser alongside the south bank and once we hit the opposite bank we dropped into the Sandollar Seafood Restaurant for lunch. From here the route home took us along another beachfront road to Fernandina Beach. At the lovely beach town of Fernandina Beach we checked out the historic points of interest before moving to the northern part of town where the boat launching ramp gave us clear access to the river. This part of the country has some wonderfully old tales and beautiful architecture. We were particularly taken by the way the local council has left so many of the mighty old Oak trees including some that were in the middle of the roadway.
On the way home we had one more stop at the Florida Citrus Center where they sell everything in the way of souvenirs including ‘Gator heads, baby shark, emergency beer rations and all types of poo. Yep, poo! Back at the Country Oaks RV Park we rested up before our planned trip for the next day and that was to St Mary’s to view the Submarine Museum.
The Sub Museum is in a small building on the waterfront in a small town called St Mary’s. One thing you notice (if you park across the road) is a periscope sticking up through the roof of the building. Once inside (for $5 adults/$4 ex military) you realise that the periscope actually works! The volunteers at this quaint little place is have made a really nice collection open for public perusal. There are relics from the very start of submarines to today’s massive warships. There is memorabilia from all over the world and they even have an Australian section. They even have a nice little souvenir shop. On the way hame we passed an actual submarine outside the gates of King’s Bay Submarine Base.
Footnote on DDG Museum in Jax; At this particular time (July 2018) this group of volunteers were sure they’d have DDG 2 USS Charles F Adams alongside as a hands on museum ship. Bureaucracy being as convoluted in the USA as it is in Australia the transfer is being held up. The US Navy has granted the ownership of the Adams to the group however now other government agencies (eg Environment etc) are causing waves and delaying the handover. The Museum shop is in the Landing Mall but is a tiny room with lots of baseball caps with ship’s names. They have a radar set and some little bits and pieces (including an Australian section) but really need the actual ship to make this a side track worth viewing.
That’s it for Georgia. A short but sweet trip.
Keep on watching. We’re in Charleston, South Carolina as I type and we’ve had two great days. Keep watching as our day aboard the Carrier USS Yorktown was a ripper.
Cheers for now
Garry & Shane.