Neither rain nor wind ...

    Those typical afternoon showers didn't deter recognition of St. Augustine's Civil Rights Foot Soldiers of recent history nor the Spanish Garrison of more distant times Saturday.

Children's museum has powerful vision

 "Great cities have children s museums. As a great small city in so many other ways, St. Augustine needs a children 's museum!"

With this introduction, Children's Museum of St. Johns (CMSJ) has unfolded an ambitious plan for an interactive museum at a hoped-for site in St. Augustine's historic district.

"In light of the impending 450th celebration in 2015, (this) will send a powerful message about this community's investment in future generations," CMSJ says.

The plan based on workshops, surveys, and input from the community, envisions five theme areas: Our Town Center, Life on the River, St. Augustine Story, Spuds 'N' Buds Farm, and Our Beautiful Beaches - each offering a wide variety of multi-disciplinary, hands-on learning experiences.

   Susan Connor, a founding member of the CMSJ board of directors, is executive director. To learn more about the children's museum effort, visit the CMSJ website.

St. Augustine Story

St. Augustine's Castillo de San Marcos and a scaled down boardable steam engine and passenger car are dual anchor exhibits to present the city's history from its founding to modern times. Henry Flagler's personal rail car and a series of train tables are highlights of the Coastal Railways exhibit, while Dig It! demonstrates how archaeologists conduct dig sites to uncover the past.

Town Center

A child-sized community of stores and centers encircling a gazebo will encourage children to try adult roles, solve problems, and explore choices. Exhibit areas include Community Cares Hospital, Supermarket, Salon and Barber Shop, Harmony House Music Store, and Art Gallery and Institute.

Spuds 'N' Buds Farm

The history and modern role of agriculture in St. Johns County is introduced with a working community garden and talking climb-aboard tractor, exploring plants, animals, machines, equipment, and processes used and found on a farm. exhibit areas include a community garden, plant and animal science lab, and potato processing plant.

Our Beautiful Beaches

A sunny beach environment provides a day at the beach no matter what the weather. Murals depict the skyline and horizon of a sunny day at the beach, while flooring represents the division between the sand and the sea. 

Life on the River

The vital role of the St. Johns River throughout history and today will be captured with A climb-aboard fishing boat complete with fishing gear, navigation station, and living quarters, will offer built-in tunnels, slides, and climbable nets, while lifelike props allow children to assume the role of professional fishermen.

  Excerpts from The Heroic Story of the St. Augustine Foot Soldiers, a pamphlet prepared by St. Augustine Historian David Nolan for the dedication of the St. Augustine Foot Soldiers monument.

   In the summer of 1963 picketing began at local businesses that practiced segregation.

   The Ku Klux Klan began holding rallies in St. Augustine, and when Dr. Hayling, James Jackson, Clyde Jenkins and James Hauser went to see one from the highway near the modern-day Big Lots shopping center, they were captured, brutally beaten - and then charged with assault!

   Homes were shot up, cars set on fire, people were beaten, jobs were lost, jail sentences handed out and threats made--all in an effort to crush the civil rights movement.

   The police acquired new tools like cattle prods, and "civic groups" purchased police dogs for them, which were trained at the Galimore Center grounds in Lincolnville, and stationed in the lobby of what is now the Casa Monica Hotel when civil rights marches took place.

   Finally, in early 1964 local civil rights activists approached Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) about coming to St. Augustine to help.

   The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was then being subjected to the longest filibuster in history, and to bring the talk-a-thon to an end it was necessary to show the American people why such a law was needed. Part of it dealt with segregated hotels, motels, and restaurants - and St. Augustine had nothing but.

   It was decided to launch a project for Easter 1964. Dr. Hayling sent an appeal to college students to come to St. Augustine for Spring Break - not to go to the beach, but to take part in sit-ins and demonstrations.

   As the Civil Rights Act was being debated in Washington, the American people were reading in their newspapers and seeing on the nightly news the history-making events taking place on the streets of St. Augustine.

   Many of the dramatic episodes and images of the civil rights movement took place with familiar St. Augustine landmarks in the background: the beaches, the Slave Market, the Monson Motel, the Castillo de San Marcos, the Visitors Center, Trinity Episcopal Church and others.

   Dramatic events like the beach wade-ins, night marches, pray-ins at the churches, the largest mass arrest of rabbis in American history, the pouring of acid in the Monson pool while civil rights supporters were swimming there, became part of American history.

   The courage of the Foot Soldiers of the civil rights movement here helped to change America and inspire the world.