Everything I Did During My Trip To St. Augustine, Florida

For my birthday this year, I decided to go to St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded in 1565. I love anything historic, so visiting the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin in the United States just made sense. I’m used to exploring all of the history in New England, but I thought it would be interesting to explore an area with Spanish influence instead of British influence. Below is everything I did during my trip, although not everything was in St. Augustine. Some things I did were within a 30 minute drive because we had a rental car.

st. augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum

Whenever I’m traveling, I always try to get a new lighthouse in if there’s one close by. Saint Augustine Lighthouse was built in 1874 and it’s said to be one of the most haunted locations in the United States. It was actually featured on an episode of Ghost Hunters. During your visit, you can climb to the top of the lighthouse (219 steps to the observation deck), explore the old Lightkeepers’ House, and view various exhibits in the historic buildings on the property. There’s plenty to see and do.
Discover more haunted lighthouses: 10 Haunted New England Lighthouses

The Oldest House Museum Complex

The Oldest House Museum Complex and Gardens has a lot to see. Of course, the main attraction is the Gonzalez-Alvarez House, which is the oldest house. The site has been occupied by St. Augustinians for decades, beginning around 1650. The current house was built soon after the English burned the town in 1702. In addition to the house, you’ll find exhibits about the history of the area, surfing, and maps. You can also enjoy the gardens.

The Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse

This schoolhouse on St. George Street is said to be the oldest surviving wooden school building in the United States. During your visit, you can check out the first floor of the schoolhouse, peek inside the separate kitchen building, and enjoy the gardens. Inside the schoolhouse, there’s a short animatronic show that gives you a glimpse into what it would have been like attending school here. While you can’t go to the second floor, you can get a glimpse of it via a mirror.

Medieval Torture Museum St. Augustine

This was not a planned stop for us at all. We were walking down St. George Street when I noticed a sign for it. We decided to head in and check it out because we both were interested. We were able to walk in and purchase tickets. There was a great audio tour that you can play from your cellphone that was about an hour long. It was educational, and there were stories for pretty much all of the different things in the museum. However, I will say that this is not for the faint of heart. It shows the darker side of history, sometimes with gory details.
Get tickets here: St.Augustine: Torture Museum, Ghost Hunt, & Tiny Art Tickets

Classic Car museum of St. Augustine

This ended up being one of my favorite things we did on vacation. I have a thing for anything vintage, so this was right up my alley. This museum had a great collection of cars and the information they gave about them was excellent. My favorite cars were the super long tailfin cars. While I didn’t grow up with them, I’m so fascinated by them and their design. I also loved the muscle cars, specifically the Chevys. I spent a lot of time pointing at cars and asking my boyfriend if I can get them.

Villa Zorayda Museum

The Villa Zorayda Museum is a historic Gilded Age house museum located in the heart of Saint Augustine. The house was built in 1883 by Franklin W. Smith, who was a wealthy hardware merchant and architect from Boston, Massachusetts. The house was designed utilizing Moorish Revival Architecture. I’ve done all of the major Gilded Age mansions in Newport, Rhode Island and this was a much different vibe than all of those. The tour is a self-guided audio tour. Unlike a lot of places, they give you audio devices so you don’t have to use your cellphone. The only downside is you have to hold the device up to your ear instead of having the ability to use headphones like you can with your cellphone.

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

This fort on the bay was built by the Spanish to defend Florida and the Atlantic trade route. Founded in 1672, it’s the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. You will need to pay to get into the fort, unless you have an America the Beautiful Pass. With admission, you’re able to explore inside the fort. There are exhibits throughout that tell the story of the fort from general history to the people who were a part of the history. There’s also some old graffiti on the walls that has been preserved!

Flagler College

While there are tours you can take of the campus, we decided to just visit it on our own. If you do this, you can only explore the entrance where the courtyard is. However, this in itself was plenty for me. The architecture and landscaping was stunning. It was built in 1888 as the Hotel Ponce de León, a luxury hotel, so it’s not shocking that it was so beautiful. We were also able to walk into the building at the back of the courtyard, but we could only stay right in the entryway where there was a large domed ceiling.

Lightner Museum

We only visited the exterior of the museum. We considered visiting the actual museum, but personally, I am more interested in architecture and visiting spots that have been preserved as they once were. While I don’t dislike regular museums that have stuff on display, I love stepping back into house museums where I can get a feel of what it was like when it was still being lived in/used. It’s like stepping back in history. And since there were so many in St. Augustine, we decided to use our time for those instead of this museum.

St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum

I don’t have any photos inside the museum because there was a giant sign saying no photos or videos inside the museum. But, I can absolutely tell you what to expect! This museum has a lot of interactive things, like being able to “fire a cannon” and such, making it really kid-friendly. There were also some really cool artifacts from well-known pirates, like Captain Kidd and Blackbeard. I learned a lot about pirating and notable figures during my visit.
Get tickets: St. Augustine Pirate and Treasure Museum Tickets

Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

So this is not somewhere I’d normally want to go, but as we drove from Jacksonville to St. Augustine, there were a lot of billboards advertising the cryptid exhibit here. I wish I had looked at reviews on Google Maps before we wasted $50 to visit because that exhibit was not only small, but it was also full of AI-generated stuff. Even the footage of a human explaining things was AI-generated…like they couldn’t film an actual human saying stuff? Aside from this, it wasn’t ALL bad. There’s a lot of interactive stuff throughout the museum, which makes this spot really kid-friendly. Also, it was in a historic building. But, the historic charm was mostly stripped away from the interior for the museum.
Get tickets: St. Augustine: Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Admission Ticket

Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park

We did this on the last day. We were between this and the St. Augustine Old Jail Museum. But, we decided on the Fountain of Youth because every time I told someone I was going to St. Augustine, they always mentioned the Foutain of Youth. To me, it was a bit too touristy and it didn’t feel like I was visiting something historically significant. The water was literally coming out of a fake pot and tubes. There were some cool exhibits and demonstrations, and a lot of peacocks. But, I wish we had done the Old Jail Museum instead. At least I can say we did it?

Fort Matanzas National Monument

Fort Matanzas National Monument features a fortified coquina watchtower that was completed in 1742. The fort sits along the Matanzas River and it defended the southern approach to the Spanish military settlement of St. Augustine. A ferry ride is necessary to visit the watchtower. The National Parks Service offers a free ferry, but they’re first come first serve. We got there 15 minutes after they opened and we were only able to get tickets for the ride that was in two hours. While we waited, we did a guided nature walk in the park and saw various birds like spoonbills, ospreys, vultures, and pelicans.

Washington Oaks Gardens State Park

This park consists of two parts, the historic district and the beach. We started with the historic district, which has about a half mile. There’s a lot of beautiful landscaping, river views, historic buildings, and a formal garden (although nothing was really in bloom when we went). The beach across the street features very unique coquina rock formations. In both parts of the park, we saw wildlife. In the historic district section, we saw ospreys fishing in the river and anoles as we walked around. The beach side had a group of Sanderlings feeding by the ocean.