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George Gardner 57 Fullerwood Drive St. Augustine FL 32084

Image:  UF Historic St. Augustine Inc.

   Amid the pomp of a catered invitation-only reception Thursday night, the University of Florida unveiled its $2.5 million First Colony: Our Spanish Origins exhibit in the lobby and former museum area of Government House. 

   Grants from the State Division of Historical Resources provided $1.5 million for the exhibit and another $1 million to rehabilitate the ground floor of Government House, the lobby and public restrooms.

   The soft opening came three days after the City Commission approved a plan to provide kiosk space in the Visitor Information Center to promote both this exhibit and the Colonial Quarter - a four century historic overview transformed from the former Colonial Spanish Quarter.

   Pirate Museum's Pat Croce, who leases the Colonial Quarter from the university, has a memorandum of understanding to run the Government House exhibit and gift shop.

   "First Colony: Our Spanish Origins will present the story of the founding of St. Augustine, its nature as a military and civilian community, its multicultural character and its importance to American history," university officials said as they announced the plan last year.

"Let's not not do the good things because we're afraid of the bad things."

   City Commissioner Roxanne Horvath during recent brief commission discussion of returning the US flags to the Bridge of Lions. City staff will study and report back.

 

"If we did the national park that you want, would we be shut down right now?"

   City Commissioner Leanna Freeman, during the recent government shutdown, to Ed Slavin on his idea for a National Park and National Seashore here. Slavin replied, "No, there are more of us than National Park Service people."

 

The last five years or so has seen a definite nod to bringing in tourists and supporting the business community. 

   Now there is another big project ($2.7 million historic streetscape plan) on the agenda. This one again, is a business project to enhance the appearance of Spanish/Hypolita/ Treasury Streets. (Some businesses have agreed to contribute towards $750,000 of this amount, though agreement by all owners has not yet been reached).

   It is a nicely designed project and should definitely improve that portion of the Historic District. The question for us all is where does this project fit with the overall priorities of the City? We don't have an endless supply of money to do it all, so hard decisions must be made to best serve the City overall and for the long term.

   Do we invest again in the "tourist part of the equation" or do we go back to some fundamentals and address our city infrastructure and our neighborhoods?

 

   The 'History Bundle'

   With respect to the "History Bundle," (City Commission approval to promote the University of Florida's Government House and Colonial Quarter) isn't it a bit curious that they're leaving out the site of the 1565 founding of St. Augustine and the site of the first Franciscan mission in the United States (both at the Fountain of Youth) and the site of the present Mission Nombre de Diós, which also had 1565-1566 activity?

   Of course the Castillo must be included in such considerations, but I very much question the validity of including a WPA-era post office and the shell of what was once a legitimate living history museum - now a pair of bars and restaurants with some empty buildings in the mix - in such a thematic aggregate. True, they need more money and visitation. So do many other, legitimately historic venues. It is simply not fair to show favoritism to anyone at someone else's expense.

 

1 year, 10 months, 17 days  to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary