St. Augustine

Home Sweet Home    Find a Realtor    Find a Company    Vital Stats    Rain & Shine    Job Market    Class Notes    Getting Around

Great Outdoors    Good Sports    Hot Times    Shop 'til You Drop    Nightlife    College Scene    Just for Seniors

Menendez founded St. Augustine, but Henry Flagler, who didn't arrive until the mid-1880s, made it famous, transforming it from a sleepy coastal village to a posh haven for rich northerners. Flagler spent lots of money here, building hotels and such. His investment and commitment ushered in the city's golden age, from 1885 to 1914.

Yet the city of St. Augustine is far more than a relic, in spite of its long and storied history. It's a contemporary city with lots of ancient buildings--but it's also a place that attracts people of all ages. The median age of residents of St. Augustine is 41, fairly low by Florida standards. If you come here, you'll notice youngsters are all over town--not only at the tourist sites (where thousands of school children from all over Florida arrive annually on field trips) but also in the St. Johns School District's actual schools and at Flagler College and St. Johns River Community College.

So St. Augustine is old physically and historically, but it's not old mentally and spiritually. It's a good place to visit, but also a good place to live.

Home Sweet Home

Vital Stats

St. Johns County is part of the four-county Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The other three counties are Clay, Duval and Nassau. Statistics are for the entire MSA unless noted.

Population: 1 million (St. Johns County: 116,147)
Median age: 41
New citizens: 3,080 yearly
New job creation: 3.8 percent (1999)
Unemployment rate: 2.4 percent in August, 1999
Cost of living: 96.92 percent (U.S. average=100 percent)
Per capita income: $29,345
Median household effective buying income: $39.519

Rain & Shine

This climate offers Florida's warmth with an occasional seasonal flavor, perhaps during one of the rare chills of winter. Actually, the average January temperature is a comparatively balmy 57 degrees Fahrenheit. In August, the average temperature is 80.7, about the same as most of Florida. Rainfall averages 48.25 inches annually, but the rain is often quite welcome because it tends to arrive on sultry summer afternoons in time to cool the human residents and also refresh the plants and animals.

Job Market

Although many jobs here are connected directly or indirectly with tourism, this isn't apparent in the list of major employers because tourist locations and motels here usually have relatively small staffs. Nevertheless, tourism is the county's major industry. Other important employment categories include manufacturing of auto parts, aeronautics and health food preparation. The top public and private employers are: St. Johns County School System (2,000); Flagler Hospital (1,000); St. Johns County government (1,000); Northrup Gruman (813); Florida School for the Deaf & Blind (611); V.A.W. (550); Luhrs Corporation (375); National Guard staff (311); Tree of Life Inc. (305); and Ideal Division/Stant Corporation (200).

Class Notes

Extensive information about the schools in this area is online at the state's Department of Education (http://www.firn.edu/doe/doehome.htm). There you'll discover everything you'll need to know about Florida schools -- in general and in particular. All you need is the name of your county and the names of the schools students from your neighborhood attend.

Use links from the DOE home page for general information about entrance requirements, immunizations and so forth.

For the nitty-gritty details that really matter, click on the logo for the "Florida School Indicators Report."

Getting Around

It's easy to get here. It's easy to get around--or get away--once you're here. Interstate-95 runs right through the middle of the county on its north/south route from Maine to Miami. Interstate 10 travels east/west from neighboring Jacksonville on the east coast to Los Angeles on the west coast. It's only a few miles and a few minutes north of Ponte Vedra Beach at the county's northern end and perhaps 30 to 45 minutes from St. Augustine, the county seat. Within the county, the only important east/west roads aren't in the superhighway class, but State Roads 16, 297 and 206 will get you where you need to go. Parallel to I-95, but closer to the coastline, are U.S. Highway 1 and State Road A1A, which runs right along the beach and definitely qualifies as the "scenic" route.

For Amtrak, you'll need to go to Jacksonville. Ditto for a major airport. Jacksonville International Airport is served by nine major and four regional airlines. From there you can get almost anywhere. St. Augustine Airport offers an asphalt surface on its 6,948-foot, lighted runway. The closest deep-water port, at 38-feet, is 35 miles away in Jacksonville. The port at Green Cove Springs is only 26 miles away, but it's only 13-feet deep and doesn't offer warehousing.

Great Outdoors

The Anastasia State Recreation Area, with its four miles of beautiful beach at St. Augustine Beach, offers a nearly perfect place for innumerable water sports including Atlantic swimming, surfing, sailboarding, sunbathing, fishing, boating or simply loafing. Numerous birds and wildlife are sighted there, including herons, gulls, pelicans, sandpipers and terns. At Faver-Dykes State Park, also in St. Augustine, the 752-acre location along Pellicer Creek is an aquatic preserve noted for its peacefulness. There's a primitive camping area and 30 family campsites, but most of the land along the creek features hammock and flatwoods that shelter deer, turkeys, otters, bobcats and hawks. Guana River State Park at Ponte Vedra Beach has a lot going for it, too. Not only do its 2,400 acres support seven distinct plant communities, but also this place is thought by some 20th century historians to be the actual spot of Ponce de Leon's 1513 landing at what he promptly christened La Florida, the land of the flowers. South of the city, you'll find the Frank Butler State Park near Crescent Beach and Fort Matanzas National Monument near Summer Haven.

Good Sports

The First Coast is well-supplied with marinas, boats and yacht clubs. Yachtsmen and surfers don't mingle much but both groups like it here. Flagler College is so convenient to the beach, in fact, that it's popular with surfers who just happen to need an education and can manage to make their grades while honing their skills. Also popular are golf and tennis. Especially at Ponte Vedra Beach, where the pros play, the facilities are terrific. The village is headquarters for the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour and for the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. There's a first-rate tennis school--and plenty of courts and courses. The Tournament Players Course at Sawgrass sports two world-famous golf courses, the Stadium and the Valley. Neither is open to the public, but only to members and resort guests. Another 20 or so good courses, however, are scattered around the four-county First Coast.

Hot Times in the City

Don't miss the historic district. It's an easy walk for many. Park your car and stroll or hire a carriage or sightseeing vehicle, but don't miss it. The Oldest Store Museum is amazing--filled with products--or at least their original boxes and containers--that date back decades, many to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It's a bit like shopping with Grandma--when she was a little girl. Truly old items aren't for sale, of course, but it's fun anyhow. The Oldest School is a tiny, rather dark, wood structure. It's a fun place for kids to visit, though they certainly wouldn't want to study here. A quick look will suffice but will be remembered. The Gonzalez-Alvarez House, a national historic landmark, is old, very old. Although there is some debate about whether it is actually the oldest house in the continental United States, it's indisputably on the site of one of the nation's oldest residential structures.

In the Spanish Quarter, locals re-create the days when Spanish colonists lived in St. Augustine. You can watch them work and play decked out in authentic-looking Spanish colonial garb. The "mustn't miss no matter what" location in St. Augustine is the Castillo de San Marcos, overlooking Matanzas Bay. Its 33-foot walls and intriguing history fascinate visitors of all ages; the view is good, too. Other places of interest include the Lightner Museum in town, with its eccentric but interesting collections of cut glass and musical instruments, and the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Lighthouse Keepers Museum on Anastasia Island at St. Augustine Beach.

The state play, The Cross and the Sword, runs for a couple of months each summer in an outdoor amphitheater. It's not politically correct, but it does provide a broad historic view. Many other cultural and historic sites keep most residents busy. Although there's no local symphony, Jacksonville isn't far and its orchestra is good. The Emil Maestre Music Association sponsors a concert series yearly. And the Little Theater produces several shows annually as well. Sometimes called the City of Festivals, St. Augustine lives up to its name. Almost every month, there's a major event in progress. The biggest, perhaps, is the two-week Easter Festival.

Shop 'til You Drop

St. George Street in historic St. Augustine sports a special shopping district. The shops and galleries, souvenir places and restaurants exist in an unusual Old World environment. Unlike the ubiquitous American mall, St. George Street offers its goods in an 11-block, pedestrian-only area. St. George runs north/south and intersects with King Street. Also in the historic district, discover the San Marco Avenue shops. Or for a total change of venue, drive out toward I-95, where a very different experience awaits the serious shopper: the St. Augustine Outlet Center, site of about 90 factory-outlet stores that offer name-brand products at discount rates.

Nightlife

For that important evening out, you'll enjoy plenty of choices. The Gypsy Cab Co. bill of fare features "urban cuisine" like shrimp with almond pesto or Thai chicken. Fine dining spots include Aruanno's at St. Augustine Beach; and in the city itself, consider the Columbia Restaurant, Champs of Aviles, La Parisienne, Le Pavillion, Raintree, Rosenhof or Santa Maria. Lots of old inns and quaint small hotels are scattered about the region. Some of them have restaurants. Then, too, the posh hotel and resort at Ponte Vedra Beach offer some memorable dining spots. For additional culinary experiences plus a club scene of note, residents often head up I-95 to Jacksonville.

College Scene

Flagler College, a four-year, private liberal arts school with about 1,400 full-time students is located in the historic district. The campus' main building is the elaborate, Florida baroque that was once the Hotel Ponce de Leon, built by Henry Flagler in 1887 to shelter wealthy northerners on vacation. The local branch of the state-supported system of community college is St. Johns River Community College (SJRCC) with about 4,500 students. Actually, SJRCC has three campuses--one in St. Augustine, one in Orange Park and one in Palatka, where the Florida School of the Arts shares its site. Graduates of SJRCC earn an Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree, which commonly allows them to complete their final two years at one of Florida's 10 major, four-year institutions of higher learning--or at any four-year school, public or private, that will accept them. Among such institutions, the closest state-supported schools are the University of Florida in Gainesville and the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Other area post-secondary schools include another two-year school, Florida Community College, and two private schools, Edward Waters College and Jacksonville University, all three in Jacksonville. Additionally, about 2,500 residential and continuing education students learn their trade at the Institute of Physical Therapy in St. Augustine.

Just for Seniors

Although St. Augustine is an old city--the oldest in the country--its senior citizen population is normal in size and smaller than many regions of Florida that are even more popular as havens for retirees. Only 16.5 percent of St. Johns County citizens are 65 or older. Most enjoy active lifestyles. Many volunteer in the schools or for the many historical re-enactments that occur frequently around the county. Others join one or more of the numerous civic organizations. Some are specifically for seniors; others like garden clubs and Toastmasters are open to all ages. There's a Grandparents' Rights group and a Harley Owners club, so activities and opportunities abound for nearly every taste or hobby.

Anyone over 60 who needs some assistance can receive referrals to helping agencies by calling the Elder Helpline at 904/824-1648. The Information and Referral (I&R) specialist who answers has information on home-delivered meals, congregate meals, homemakers, respite care, transportation to medical appointments and a wealth of other senior-oriented services.