St. Augustine
The oldest continuously inhabited European-founded city in the contiguous United States.
- Population
- 14,329 (2020 census)
- Founded
- September 8, 1565
- Fort
- Castillo de San Marcos, 1672–1695
- Tides
- Two highs, two lows a day
Then
- Before 1565
The Timucua live in villages across northeast Florida. The Spanish town is built on the site of the Timucua village of Seloy.
- 1565
Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St. Augustine on September 8. The fleet had first sighted land on August 28, the feast of St. Augustine.
- 1586
Sir Francis Drake sacks and burns the town on May 28–29.
- 1672–1695
Spain builds the Castillo de San Marcos, a masonry fortress that still stands today.
- 1763–1784
Britain takes Florida and makes St. Augustine the capital of British East Florida. The 1783 Treaty of Paris returns Florida to Spain, and the handover takes place in 1784.
- 1821
Spain's cession of Florida to the United States takes effect.
- 1888
Henry Flagler's Hotel Ponce de Leon opens, helping turn the city into a winter resort. Since 1968 the building has been Flagler College.
- 1964
Civil rights protests run from May to July. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested on June 11 at the Monson Motor Lodge, and the protests help build support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Now
Tourism leads the local economy. Visitors come for the Castillo de San Marcos, Flagler College in the old Hotel Ponce de Leon, and the Bridge of Lions.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse was completed in 1874. The city reaches the Atlantic through the St. Augustine Inlet of the Matanzas River.
On the water
From NOAA's predictions for St. Augustine, city dock, FL over the next 365 days. Heights are in feet above mean lower low water (MLLW).
- Pattern
- Two highs and two lows a day, close in size
- Typical daily range
- 4.7 ft
- Biggest swing
- 6.7 ft on Jan 23
- Smallest swing
- 2.9 ft on Mar 30
- Highest high
- 5.9 ft, Oct 1 at 10:05 AM
- Lowest low
- −1.3 ft, Jan 23 at 2:44 AM