Committees, collections, and contests

   A variety of activity is coming to the fore as the community gets into gear for St. Augustine's 450^th anniversary.

  Best-selling author Steve Berry may have unwittingly stepped into one strong idea for the 450th - restoring our historic properties.

   "Be a local hero - Save History" is a preservation support opportunity offered by Berry and his wife, Elizabeth, now residents of St. Augustine.

   Seeing the need and dwindling supply of funds available to preserve human heritage in their travels around the world, they've established History Matters and are calling for videos of historic sites and need to preserve. For St. Augustine, deadline is noon next Monday. Details here.

   The City Public Works Department will hold a public meeting Wednesday, June 29, to outline plans for curbside parking restrictions and sidewalk improvements on Marine Street from St. Francis south to the Council on Aging area.

   The meeting is scheduled from 6-8 p.m. in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.

Public Works Director Martha Graham says sidewalk will be installed "to provide a continuous ADA-compliant sidewalk along the east side of Marine Street." ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act.

   Graham is encouraging residents and property owners to attend, get a description of the project, and dialog with public works staff.

   Willing to give up clocks, cell phones, television, and computers for hands-on learning about daily life in 1740s St. Augustine are three student volunteers in the city's Colonial Spanish Quarter.

   Herrick Smith, Faith Mantia, and Kiara Yee are veteran living history interpreters at the Quarter, Herrick all through high school and into his college career, and Faith and Kiara for several years, first joining their mothers as young volunteers and now coming in on their own. 

   Look for Faith and Kiara at the annual Colonial Arts & Crafts Fair, demonstrating children's activities, and at special museum events to add to their total Bright Futures hours. That's the Florida scholarship program that rewards student achievements with funding for postsecondary education in Florida.

   Herrick has trained with the Quarter's blacksmith's to practice metal arts.

   Contact Operations Manager Catherine Culver 904-825-6830 to learn more about volunteer opportunities.

   Visitors will meet the leather worker, who answers a variety of questions.

   The leather is not imported from Spain, but comes from cattle bred by the Spaniards to feed the troops. A tanner is responsible for tanning the leather. The leather worker is not likely to make saddles - there is no cavalry here, but he can make repairs.

   His shop is also his home. He sleeps on a ticking mattress on the shop floor. Fancy carving and decorative work on leather will come in a later period. In a small town this far removed from other towns, a leather worker tries to make anything he can to sell.

   Sewing is done all by hand. The sewing machine is not invented yet.

Over at the candle shop, a wick made of cotton or linen is being dipped 40 to 50 times to make a single candle, depending on the weather. The wax is beeswax, or beeswax mixed with beef tallow. The beeswax comes from trading with the Indians, who harvest it in the wild. The tallow is imported.

   The carpenter's wood supply is out by the St. John's River, where forests are plentiful. Milled wood is transported by ship to St. Augustine. The carboneros are also working in that area making "carbon" (charcoal).

   There are more than 250 species of trees native to Florida. The Spanish are using four types: cypress, cedar, and yellow pine.

   The carpenter makes wooden items of all sorts needed by the civilian population. All his tools are imported from Europe. At this time, the 1740s, most tools are English. The carpenter's first tools would have been gifts from his father or teacher. His primary tools are saws, axes, chisels, and auger bits.