St Augustine Gold Tours

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.

05/14/2026

Beginnings of St. Augustine Electricity
Thomas Edison displayed the first electric light bulb on December 31, 1879.

On September 4, 1882, Thomas Edison put a six-generator plant into operation in New York City. When the Ponce de Leon Hotel plant was finished in 1888 it was the largest isolated incandescent lighting plant ever constructed --- an 8,000 light plant. The building housed four direct current Edison dynamos. Coal-fired boilers powered the dynamos and the artesian well had a generator powered by the foot-wide, twenty-foot high gushing well.

An article in the Manufactures and Builders Magazine stated that the 10,000,000 gallons of water a day was applied under a turbine water wheel that covered the well and operated the dynamos that provided electricity for the hotel.

The lights were turned on in the dining room on January 6, four days before the special dinner on opening night. The lights throughout the hotel were ready for the opening ceremonies.

The electrical system in the Ponce de Leon, Alcazar, and Casino was upgraded in 1894. The upgrade included rewiring through brass conduits, cabinets, and marble junction tablets designed by Albert T. Best, electrician of the Flagler system. There were 2,000 lights at the Alcazar and 1,200 at the Casino.

Also in 1894, the St. Augustine Electric Plant applied for incorporation for the plant to produce light, heat and power; it would take St. Augustine until 1899 to get its own electric plant with the St. Augustine Gas and Electric Company.
(end of article)

Material Information
Title: St. Augustine, St. Johns County, Florida, 1899
Series Title: Insurance maps of St. Augustine, Florida
Physical Description: Map

04/29/2026

The St. Augustine Hotel, erected 1873 and destroyed by fire in 1887.
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The St. Augustine Hotel was built in 1873 and increased an influx of Northern visitors eager to escape their colder Winter climes.

A contemporary add described the hotel as “fronting the plaza and sea wall ... commanding a view of the bay and ocean [...] The reputation of the house as a first-class family hotel will be maintained by the present proprietors, and no effort be spared to provide every comfort to the traveller.” (Guide to Florida, 1873)
The scale of the building can be seen by a small figure, lower right, a man pushing a wheelbarrow through the street.

Description: [source Unk.]. Ca. 1880s–1890s

albumen photograph of the St. Augustine Hotel, erected 1873. [Florida. N.p., ca. 1880s–1890s]. Photograph, 4 x 7 inches.
Rare Americana