From April 15-18, I had the opportunity to attend the National Council on Public History 2015 Conference in Nashville, Tenn., as a session panelist and representative of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum. Look! That man is doing public history! (OK, its me.) When I tell people I have a degree in public history and in fact consider myself a public historian, I inevitably get in response, “What is public history?” The definition [...]
The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum is using crowd funding site indiegogo.com to raise $50,000 needed for critical preservation work on the historic 1874 tower. ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. –St. Augustine’s most iconic landmark, the 165 foot-tall lighthouse tower, will begin a massive restoration project to save the 1874 structure on April 6th. The nonprofit St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum is undertaking a head-to-toe restoration project to repair damage to the brick and metal structure. To help [...]
This fifth installment in our ongoing series on the history of the St. Augustine Lighthouse focuses on the growth of the St. Augustine community during the early 20th century and the effect it had on the lighthouse and the people living and working there. Click the links below to read previous posts in the series: Lighthouse History Pre-1874 Lighthouse History 1874-1894 (Part I) Lighthouse History 1874-1894 (Part II) Lighthouse History 1894-1914 1914-1934 For much of [...]
The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum is one of many local heritage organizations supporting the recognition of African, European and Native American cultural history in the Nation’s Oldest PortSM through new markers placed at the Castillo de San Marcos and Mission Nombre de Dios. RESIDENTS, FAITH GROUPS, AND VISITORS MARK MIDDLE PASSAGE AND AFRICAN PRESENCE AS KEY PART OF CITY’S 450th CELEBRATION In one of many commemorations of St. Augustine’s 450 year history, the [...]
Sea Your History Weekend to Highlight Spanish and Menorcan Heritage The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum will showcase St. Augustine’s Spanish and Menorcan culture Aug. 23rd–24th with special events including a presentation by Director of Archaeology Dr. Sam Turner. ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. – For more than four centuries, Spanish maritime culture has shaped the city of St. Augustine. This weekend, Aug. 23rd – 24th, the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum will honor this important part [...]
Lighthouse Archaeologists Hope 1782 Cannon Yields New Clues Three years after finding a shipwrecked cannon from 1782, conservators at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum hope the restoration process will yield new clues to this shipwreck mystery. ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. – On New Year’s Eve, 1782, sixteen British Loyalist ships carrying evacuees from Charleston, S.C., ran aground while trying to enter the St. Augustine Inlet. More than 200 years later, archaeologists from the St. Augustine [...]
45 Scholarships Awarded to Local Students for Lighthouse Summer Camp Thanks to several community partners, the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum awarded 45 scholarships to St. Johns County students for the Lighthouse Ancient City Explorers Summer Camp. ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. – Excited chatter filled the 140 year-old tower at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum on Tuesday morning as students ascended 219 steps to the top. The museum’s Lighthouse Ancient City Explorers Summer Camp is [...]
Thanks to several community partners, the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum awarded 45 scholarships to St. Johns County students for the Lighthouse Ancient City Explorers Summer Camp. ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. – Excited chatter filled the 140 year-old tower at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum on Tuesday morning as students ascended 219 steps to the top. The museum’s Lighthouse Ancient City Explorers Summer Camp is in full swing, with six weeks of camp programming scheduled [...]
Lighthouse’s Underwater Archaeology Field School Begins Monday Archaeologists from the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum will begin their annual field school in St. Augustine on June 2nd with 12 students from around the world. ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. – Twelve students from as far away as Australia have arrived in St. Augustine, Fla., for the educational experience of a lifetime. Beginning June 2nd, the students will join archaeologists from the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum for [...]
There’s a technical problem so I can’t update my post “The Controversy of Fort Caroline,” so I’m having to create a separate blog post. Hopefully this will be temporary as I wanted to put all updates about the Fort Caroline controversy in one place. Another newspaper article came out in the Florida Times-Union, about another proposed location for Fort Caroline. This time the folks speculating tell us its on the St. Mary’s River: Archeologists Fred [...]