Known as the "Ancient City," St. Augustine is the oldest municipality in North America. Settled in 1565, the city has been continuously inhabited since that time, making it 42 years older than Jamestown, Virginia, and 55 years older than the Plymouth Colony.

Founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, St. Augustine was vital to the protection of Spanish treasure ships as they sailed up the Gulf Stream en route to Spain. The town also became headquarters for Spanish missions throughout Florida. Beginning in the late sixteenth century, Franciscan friars spread the Catholic religion among the Guale Indians of southern Georgia and the Timucua-speaking peoples of northeast Florida.

In the early eighteenth century, British and Creek Indian raids destroyed the Spanish mission system. Soon afterward, Seminole Indians and freedom-seeking African Americans migrated into the region. In 1738, Fort Mose, today an archaeological site and museum north of the city, became North America's first community established for free blacks.

In 1763, St. Augustine became the capital of British East Florida, one of four British colonies in North America that remained loyal to King George III during the Revolution. The others were West Florida, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. American troops unsuccessfully attempted to invade British East Florida three times during the war, but diplomatic negotiations, not battlefield heroics, returned the colony to Spain in 1784.

When Florida became an American territory in 1821, St. Augustine shared the designation as territorial capital with Pensacola. That changed in 1823 when a new capital of Tallahassee was established an equidistance between the two.

During the Civil War, St. Augustine was briefly occupied by Confederate troops, but remained under Union control from 1862 until the end of the conflict. In the decades following Reconstruction, oil baron Henry Flagler transformed St. Augustine into a winter haven for wealthy Northerners. Flagler's railroad connected the east coast of Florida to the rest of the nation, while his opulent hotels attracted an increasingly wealthy and mobile American vacationer.

Today, St. Augustine remains a popular tourist destination. The Castillo de San Marcos, a colonial fortress built in the 1680s and completed in the 1750s, is the city's most popular attraction. Other historic sites include Flagler College, which is housed in one of Flagler's most famous hotels, the ornate Ponce de Leon, and the St. Augustine Lighthouse Museum.

Some of the town's most notable buildings, including the Cathedral Basilica, are on the historic Plaza de la Constitución. To south of the Plaza is the St. Augustine Town Plan Historic District, which includes the Oldest House in Florida. Built in the early 1700s, the Gonzalez-Alvarez House serves as the headquarters of the St. Augustine Historical Society. Many museums and historic sites are within easy walking distance of the plaza.

Whether you see St. Augustine on foot, by trolley, or horse drawn carriage, the "nation's oldest city" is one of Florida's most fascinating destinations.

This podcast made possible through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council. Script written by Roger Smith. Narrated by Dave Dunwoody.