The New Student's Reference Work/St. Augustine, Fla.

St. Augustine (a̤′gŭs-tēn), Fla., an old Spanish town on the eastern coast, stands on Matanzas Sound, two miles from the Atlantic and 37 southeast of Jacksonville. It was founded by Menendez, who built a fort here in 1565, and is the oldest town in the United States. It was several times attacked by the French, English and Indians. A sea-wall, a mile long, affords a fine promenade. The postoffice once was the residence of the Spanish governor, and the large barracks occupy an old Franciscan monastery. The old fortress of San Marco, now Fort Marion, was built by Indian slaves, who worked on it for more than a century. Besides its quaint Spanish lanes and balconied buildings, crumbling gates and magnolias, palms and oleanders, it has the most costly and magnificent hotels in the world. Two of these, the Ponce de Leon and the Alcazar, are massively built of shell-concrete, with towers, casinos and courtyards; a third is Hotel Cordova. Attractive drives, yachting and, above all, the climate bring thousands of northern visitors. Population 5,494