Four event fees waived, Easter Parade time change urged 
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Published by former Mayor George Gardner                  October 30 2013
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Four event fees waived

  Commission urges Easter Parade time change
Easter Parade dates back to 1950s

   City fee waivers for four annual events, yes. Change of Easter Parade time from 3 pm Sunday to 10 am Saturday, not so much.

   City commissioners were unanimous Monday in waiving fees totaling $15,915.50 for St. Augustine's Easter, Christmas St. Patrick's Day and British Night Watch parades, the waivers sought after the commission adopted an event pay-as-you-present policy for necessary city services.

   Attached to the waiver resolution: a request to the Easter Festival Committee to change its traditional parade date from Easter Sunday at 3 pm to Saturday at 10 am. Festival President Phil Genovar and Harry Franz, veteran committee members who were among five speakers urging waivers, were in the audience shaking their heads as that idea was discussed.

   City Public Affairs Director Paul Williamson noted, "If we want (banned) parking at 5 in the afternoon, we have to close the streets all day; if we want 10 am we only close 'til then."

   While City Manager John Regan said there are city costs for all events, and commissioners suggested waivers would be limited to the four events approved, they'll likely hear from other historic events like the annual Spanish Garrison Grand Muster and Searle's and Drake's raids.  

Seashell art

Victorian art

Tested creativity

  

   Without benefit of craft stores, Victorians had to rely on seashells (pictured), hair, sand, stamping, taxidermy, and pressed flowers for their art.

   Lightner Museum Curator Barry Myers will take visitors on a tour of the museum's Victorian decorative art Wednesday, November 6, at 10 am.

   The tours, the first Wednesday of each month, are included in the price of admission and begin on the second floor of the Museum.

Donations are appreciated after the tour. 

   The Lightner Museum is a non-profit cultural institution sustained by support of individuals, businesses and sponsors.

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Commission okays

Carriage drinking

With a 3-1 vote (Commissioner Leanna Freeman absent), city commissioners Monday approved alcohol on horse carriages in an alcohol code modification that included as well areas of Eddie Vickers Park and Francis Field, for clarification.

   "It's a great part of the St. Augustine experience," said Commissioner Don Crichlow of wedding toasts aboard carriages which prompted the measure.

   "I do support the wedding industry and the carriage industry," countered Vice Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline who voted against tghe measure, "but I think we're heading in the wrong direction for the city. I draw the line at open containers on the street."

   Other areas where alcohol in public spaces is allowed:  the city-owned City Hall-Lightner Museum complex, Dr. Peck House, Llambias House, Yacht Club building at the Lighthouse, Visitor Information Center, Eddie Vickers Park for special events, areas of Frances Field, greenspace south of the Visitor Information Center between the Canos de San Francisco Fountain and the Zero Mile Marker, and the Vilano Boat Ramp Park.

'Toni' Wallace named to HARB

   Toni Wallace, current president of the St. Augustine Archaeological Association, was appointed Monday to the Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) by the City Commission after weighing six applicants for the position. She'll fill the unexpired term of Grant Misterly, who recently resigned to run for City Commission in 2014.

 

Commission endorses Vickers Park plan

   The City Commission Monday endorsed a citizen initiative to set historic markers in Eddie Vickers Field at the south end of Riberia Street and to begin efforts to gain National Historic Register status for the park. Flagler College Professor Casey Welch noted the park's long history as an early segregated park, Little Links golf course and military training ground.

 

Streetscape funding support at 77%

   City staff has gotten financial commitments from 35 of 54 property owners bordering a proposed historic streetscape corridor, with another six verbal commitments, to raise support to 77%. City commissioners approved a $2.7 million plan to upgrade streets crossing and parallel to St. George, asking property owners to commit $750,000 in assessments.

 

Vision, joint workshops on calendar

   City commissioners will meet for the second workshop on a city vision process at 9:30 am Monday, November 4, and for a Joint City-County workshop, Monday, November 18 at 9 am, both sessions in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.

Quick and Dirty competition

QUICK AND DIRTY - Five teams, with a handful of drywall screws, four sheets of plywood, a few 2�4's, some caulk and paint, and ten hours to build a human powered race boat, was the feature of last weekend's St. Augustine Maritime Heritage Festival at Fountain of Youth Park, a Quick and Dirty boat building contest. Summary and pictures on the St. Augustine Cruisers website.

Fort Green cover art on golf digest

  Fort green golf  Golfing on the fort green is featured on the homepage of Florida Historic Golf Trail, a website and future publication in the state Division of Historical Resources heritage series.

   Publishers say, "The Golf Trail will identify and feature participating historic golf courses which are publicly accessible and were established in the state between 1897 and 1948. ... they are all sites where golf has been played for over a half century and contributed to the development and history of Florida."

   The fort green is not included as such a course - no longer active. Nor is the Ponce de Leon course, bought up for residential development. Nor the bayfront mini golf course or former Little Links at Vickers Park.

 

Preparing for Veterans Day

Adm. Williamson

   Admiral Rick Williamson, USN, Commander of Naval Forces Southeast, will be featured speaker at this year's Veterans Day Ceremony at 10 am Nov 11 at Francis Field.

   The Veterans Council of St John County is host for the ceremony, specially recognizing and honoring veterans of the Korean War. Reenactors will turn out in uniforms of the past as well as military personnel in modern uniforms. 

   Look for drill teams from the three junior reserve units at 9:15-9:45, firing details opening and closing the ceremony, and displays of military equipment and weapons.

History's highlight
Tolomato Cemetery 

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

 

   Historic Tolomato Cemetery on Cordova Street will be open Saturday, November 2, noon to 3 pm for All Souls Day, including a blessing of the graves at 2 pm. All Souls Day has traditionally been a day for visiting cemeteries and joining in prayers for the repose of the souls of those buried there.

The wooden headstones and markers are gone now, lost to the elements of time. Some names on surviving vaults and box tombs of stone or brick have disappeared. 

Only church records can attest to the earliest burials in the late 1500s, two hundred years before the United States was established.

Tolomato Cemetery The size of its tree-canopied grounds belies this final resting place of more than 1,000 over three centuries. Burials are believed to have extended under today's Cordova Street and behind the chapel and to the north. 

In addition to Christian Indians, burials are documented of Africans, Italians, Greeks, Germans, Irish, Haitians, Cubans, Canadians, and other nations. All were professed Catholics in this staunch Spanish Catholic territory.

Tolomato Cemetery was originally the site of a Franciscan mission, established on the outskirts of the settlement for Guale Indians from the Tolomato mission in Georgia. Its chapel, built in the early 1700s, was a simple wooden structure with a thatch roof, but a distinguishing feature was a four-story bell tower built of coquina, a compressed seashell stone unique to this area.

Coquina block, discovered on nearby Anastasia Island, was quarried to build the Castillo de San Marcos, and the church and residents were quick to gather up unused blocks for more substantial buildings.

The Tolomato bell tower would survive until the 1790s, when it was dismantled and the material used in construction of the Cathedral Basilica.

In its final year before British occupation of Florida in 1764, the mission was occupied by a group of German Catholics, and it was sometimes referred to as the German or Dutch Church.

With the British occupation, remaining Indians and other mission residents left for Cuba with the Spanish population, and burials ceased. But in 1777 Catholic Menorcans, fleeing Dr. Andrew Turnbull's failed indigo plantation at New Smyrna, were given permission to use the cemetery.

Instrumental was Father Pedro Camps, who shepherded these indentured laborers through years of abuse at New Smyrna and continued his pastorate in their new home.

With reoccupation of Florida by the Spanish in 1783, the cemetery was once again used for Catholic burials. In 1884, burials within the city were prohibited for health reasons, and both Tolomato and Huguenot cemeteries - the latter for all faiths - were closed, though a few clandestine burials occurred in later years.

 

   Excerpt from Tolomato Cemetery in St. Augustine Bedtime Stories. Click for further information on this fascinating historic series.

 

   The St. Augustine Report is published weekly, with additional Reports previewing City Commission meetings as well as Special Reports. The Report is written and distributed by George Gardner, St. Augustine Mayor (2002-2006) and Commissioner (2006-2008) and a former newspaper reporter and editor.  Contact the Report at gardner@aug.com