St Augustine Gold Tours

10/09/2026

The News begins to Leak Out (Florida Times Union, May 20, 1885)
Saint Augustine to Build Another to Contain Five Hundred Rooms From sources which we deem entirely reliable we learn that St. Augustine is to have another hotel, larger even than the San Marco, to be built in the heart of the city, and to contain five hundred rooms.

The Sunnyside Hotel, a square west of the plaza on King street has been purchased by a company of Northern capitalists, among them Mr. Franklin W. Smith, of Boston, who has just had built across the street from it a Moorish castle after the olden style. It is said that something like a million dollars will be spent in buying the site, additional grounds, the building and the furniture.

There will be four eight-inch artesian wells, with power to throw water into the fifty story of the building. This will supply the water. Otis Bros. will put in an improved gigantic elevator. The furniture will be mixed, but all the most costly kind.

Maria Sanchez Creek will be filled in to form the rear of the hotel, and a street will be opened alongside of it.

John A. Maguire, who built the San Marco, will have the contract, and it is expected that the work will begin right away, as it is intended to open the new hotel next January. (end)

Panoramic view is of the Ponce de Leon, Casa Monica and Alcazar Source: Library of Congress

09/12/2026

08/06/2026

Long before the Underground Railroad guided people north to freedom, there was a road running south, and it led to a small fort just outside St. Augustine. 🕊️ In 1738, the Spanish crown established Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, known simply as Fort Mose, and it became the first legally sanctioned free Black community in what is now the United States.

The story begins with enslaved people in the British colonies who risked everything to escape toward Spanish Florida. Spain, eager to undermine its British rivals, offered freedom to those who reached St. Augustine and converted to Catholicism. The men among them formed a free Black militia, and they were given their own fortified settlement at Mose to help defend the northern approach to the city. ⚔️

The people of Fort Mose farmed, worshiped, raised families, and fought to protect the freedom they had won at such great cost. The settlement was abandoned when Florida passed to British control in 1763, but its significance never faded. Today it is a National Historic Landmark and a powerful reminder that the American story of freedom is older and more complex than we often learn. ✊

Some of the bravest chapters of our history were written by people whose names were nearly lost. Fort Mose makes sure they are remembered.

07/10/2026

Summer special: tours $150 through September. Check out our website

06/05/2026

What was going on in Wood's Tavern in 1776? Here's the scoop according to Dr. Roger Smith - https://staughs.com/sons-of-liberty-in-st-augustine/

06/03/2026

05/27/2026

SEMINOLE HISTORY STORIES - NOVEMBER 2025
THE SEMINOLE WAR: “BILLY BOWLEG’S WAR” Hollata Micco, who the Americans knew as “Billy Bowlegs,” was a veteran of the war, the head of a prominent town, and a respected leader who helped keep the Seminole Tribe together after the United States declared the “Florida War” over. He spent the following decade working to ease relations and find a place for the tribe in the new Florida. He found common cause with the American Indian Agent, Captain John C. Casey. The two agreed that it was possible for the Seminole to remain in Florida and made these arguments to the federal government.

Despite this, Indian Removal remained the position in Washington. One of the strongest proponents was Jefferson Davis, the Secretary of War, who would be the president of the Confederate States of America six years later. Davis directed the Army to pressure the Seminole, looking to either convince them to leave, or spark an incident that could be used to justify war.

The pressure campaign proved to be a success. In December of 1855, an Army patrol deep in Seminole territory vandalized and looted a Seminole camp. They woke up later that week to a Seminole attack. Only three of the American soldiers survived. In response, the United States declared the third Seminole War. The military had learned the lesson of the Florida War, and was for combat in the wetlands environment. With less than a thousand Seminole still in Florida, and new American tactics, the war would only last three years.

(To see more Seminole History Stories, please visit the THPO website at www.stofthpo.com)

Image - Billy Bowlegs - FL Memory

05/26/2026

05/25/2026

"FORT MARION, FLA FROM ST. AUGUSTINE SHOWING SEAWALL". A circa 1882 5X8 photo by Stanley J Morrow from the Reference collection of the SLAF.