Oldest US City Remains a Mystery to Many

Oldest US City Remains¹ a Mystery to Many

Students of United States history often learn that Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts and Jamestown in Virginia were the earliest settlements in North America.

But more than 50 years earlier, the Spanish had settled in the far northeastern corner of Florida in what is now the city of St. Augustine.

Despite being the oldest continuously occupied settlement founded by non-Native Americans in the U.S., St. Augustine is rarely talked about in American history classes.

"I think it's because it's Spanish colonial² history that we're talking about," says Nancy Sikes-Klein, mayor³ of St. Augustine. "Some people might say it's Anglo biased⁴."

Thomas Graham, a retired⁵ history professor at Flagler College in St. Augustine, agrees. He said his ancestors are from the Spanish period and "for the longest time, St. Augustine and Florida were part of the Spanish Empire." He added that the two have been forgotten about for a long time in history, but that it is changing.

The Spanish controlled St. Augustine from 1565 until 1821, except for a brief period of English rule between 1763 and 1783. St. Augustine became part of the United States in 1821 when Spain turned its Florida territories, which were too costly⁶ for Spain to keep, over to the United States.

Today, St. Augustine is a small town. It covers 27.7 square kilometers and has a population of about 15,000.

And even with centuries of Spanish rule, it is difficult to see Spain's influence on St. Augustine because most of the buildings from that time are long gone.

Graham said, "The streets are still here, the narrow streets, the small city blocks, and they survive as a part of the oldest part of St. Augustine."

The oldest structure in St. Augustine is Castillo de San Marcos. It is a fort⁷ built by the Spanish in 1695 to protect against English attacks. The fort is now a national monument.

"It was designed to protect an entire town. Whoever controls the city of St. Augustine and that fortress⁸, at the time, controlled the territory of Florida," says Chris Leverett of the National Park Service.

The city was once a popular place for wealthy Americans to escape the difficult winters in northern U.S. states. In the 1870s, businessman Henry Flagler, a founder⁹ of Standard Oil, decided¹⁰ to build three world-class hotels for rich visitors. They were Hotel Ponce de Leon, Hotel Alcazar, and Hotel Cordova.

But the rich did not stay long. Within 20 years, the rich discovered that Palm Beach on the other side of Florida had even better weather.

Today, Hotel Ponce de Leon is Flagler College and Hotel Alcazar houses city offices and a museum. Only Hotel Cordova, the smallest of the three, is still a hotel but is now called Hotel Casa Monica.

Still, visitors remain a main source of income for the city. More than three million people visited the St. Augustine area between July 2021 and June 2022. Many stay for just the day, but the city is looking for ways to make visitors stay longer.

Mayor Sikes-Klein said, "We have so many layers of history here that we want them to stay longer so that they can explore." The city hopes to bring in even more visitors as St. Augustine becomes more widely known as the oldest continuously occupied U.S. city.

Words in This Story

despite – prep. used to say that something happens or is true even though there is something that might prevent it from happening or being true

Anglo – n. a white person who lives in the U.S. and is not Hispanic

biased – adj. having or showing an unfair tendency to believe that some people or ideas are better than others

fort – n. a strong building or group of buildings where soldiers live

monument – n. a building or place that is important because of when it was built or because of something in history that happened there

museum – n. a building in which interesting and valuable things (such as paintings and sculptures or scientific or historical objects) are collected and shown to the public

layer – n. a covering piece of material or a part that lies over or under another

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 colonial   

adj.殖民地的，关于殖民的；n.殖民地，居民

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• The people of Africa have successfully fought against colonial rule.非洲人民成功地反抗了殖民统治。

3 mayor   

n.市长

参考例句：

• The new mayor said he would clean the city up.新市长说，他要整顿本市。
• The mayor hurried into his office,brushing off the reporters.市长赶快走进办公室，拒不接见记者。

4 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 fort   

n.要塞，堡垒，碉堡

参考例句：

• The fort can not be defended against an air attack.这座要塞遭到空袭时无法防御。
• No one can get into the fort without a pass.没有通行证，任何人不得进入要塞。

8 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。