Outside the Box – Kate Estes and Kate Huhn
On a beautiful, COLD winter day in early January, the children from the Panama City Renaissance School second grade class, a few children from other classes, parents, and teachers visited the Spanish settlement in St. Augustine.
Kate Estes, English Teacher and field trip leader: We met at the gates to the Castillo de San Marcos, a Spanish fort built in 1762 to protect the city of St.Augustine and Spain’s various landholdings in the New World. The fort is the oldest masonry and only 17th century fort still in existance in North America, and was never taken in battle. At the fort gate, the children were welcomed by a reinactor dressed as a Spanish soldier.
First we went up the coquina stairs to the gun deck, where the cannons are kept. The children enjoyed actually touching and reading about the many cannons which sit atop the fort. We found that many of the cannons exhibited in the fort were captured in various battles in and around Florida. We also toured the lookout towers and the bell tower where the soldiers would have kept a close watch on the Matansas River and Atlantic Ocean for incoming enemy ships.
The children recalled that the fort had been made almost entirely of coquina, a substance formed from crushed shells, and that coquina was a perfect material for a fort. Because the coquina is relatively soft compared to other building materials, cannon balls shot at the fort often stuck in the coquina walls rather than breaking the walls apart. At night, the soldiers would leave the fort and collect the enemy cannon balls from the fort walls and shoot them back at the enemy ships.
Next we took a tour of the lower-level of the fort. The lower level consists of many rooms used as sleeping quarters, storage for gun powder, food, water and other supplies, and a chapel. We listened as a park ranger recounted the history of the grand fort from its creation through the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and up to today.
The children learned that the moat surrounding the fort was a dry moat where farm animals were kept, that a large hill once kept enemies from viewing the fort from land, and that during the various Indian wars, the colonists jailed captured Native Americans in the fort. After touring the fort, we walked a few blocks to the Plaza in the center of downtown St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. The children viewed a monument erected at the site and immediately recognized the names of Ponce de Leon who, searching for the Fountain of Youth, discovered Florida at St. Augustine in 1513, and Don Pedro Menendez who founded the City of St. Augustine in 1565.
We then visited the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine built in 1797, and viewed the Government house originally built by Governor Gonzalo Mendez de Canzo about 1598 and later rebuilt in 1713. Next we took a walk down St. George Street, the main street of the colonial city. The children enjoyed visting the tea and candy shops as well as the very unique medieval sword shop. We had lunch at the Columbia, a famous Spanish restaurant, where we ate traditional Spanish foods. The children conversed in Spanish with Ms. Montorio and her family.
Afterward, we continued our walk down St. George Street, where the children were able to visit a still-running water mill at the Milltop Tavern. They also took a visit to the nation’s oldest wooden school house, which was likely constructed in the early 1600s, and St. Augustine’s Old City Gates, orignially surrounded by a moat and the only entrance to the city. The children also enjoyed viewing the beautiful site of Flagler College, originally built in the 1800’s as the magnificent Ponce de Leon hotel.
Kate Huhn, After School Program teacher: We started our trip to the Castillo de San Marcos on the second of January on one of the coldest days in five years. The weather was bone chilling, but we bundled up and started out anyway.
We toured the fort, watched a movie on the different types defense used at the fortress, and listened to a park ranger talk about how the fort was built. We continued our tour by walking to the town square where we saw the oldest Catholic church in the US. Then we proceeded down St George St. and looked at the oldest in the US.
After lunch at a local Spanish restaurant, where we soaked-up some of the local flavor, we visited the park where Ponce De Leon landed. At this location we saw the cross monument and wandered through a historic cemetery. It was fascinating to read the headstones while we spoke about the differences between their lives and ours.
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