History’s Highlight
Fort Mose – 1st Free Black Settlement
More than a century before the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves from the British colonies followed the
original underground railroad south — not north — to the Spanish colony of La Florida.
Fort Mose Historic State Park has partnered with Florida Power & Light Company and The Community
Foundation for Northeast Florida to create a self-guided educational tour experience along the Flight to
Freedom Trail. Interactive signage along the ¾ mile trail will allow the annual reenactment to be
experienced year-round.
Word came aboard ships plying the east coast from Florida through the
Carolinas: the governor of Spanish Florida promised freedom to all who
would swear allegiance to the Spanish Crown and Catholic faith.
The flight to freedom began – through the thickets of the Carolinas, and
swamps of Georgia, pursued by overseers and hired bounty men - an
underground railroad to their promised land, the Spanish garrison of St.
Augustine.
A leader awaited them: Francisco Menendez, brought to the Americas in
chains from his native Mandingo, Africa, in the early 1700s, escaped to St.
Augustine in 1724, now a captain in the St. Augustine militia, soon to be
commander of the first free black settlement in today’s America, Fort Mose.
Responding to this surge of escaped slaves, Spanish Florida's Governor Manuel Montiano established, in 1738,
Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose – Fort Mose (Mo-SAY). It would serve as a northern outpost for the
garrison two miles to the south. For Montiano, it would be manned by a fighting force fierce to hold its freedom;
for its inhabitants, it would be a new, unshackled life.
Fort Mose became home for more than a hundred freed or fugitive slaves from the British colonies, forming
more than 20 households. Together they created a frontier community which drew on a range of African
backgrounds blended with Spanish, Native American and English cultural traditions.
Echoing its host city, it became both a defensive garrison and civilian settlement.
This first free black settlement was a matter of both religious pressure and military expediency. The powerful
Spanish Church had long dictated moral, religious, and social conditions. For slaves, it meant legal rights to full
Christian communion, marriage, and parenthood, to personal security, ownership of private property, and the
purchase of their own freedom.
Militarily, Spanish Florida’s cedula of freedom would weaken the economy of the British colonies, shifting its
labor force from plantation slaves to Spanish soldados.
The night of June 26, 1740, this Spanish policy proved its worth, as a force of 300 regulars, Black militia and
Yamasee Indians routed an occupying force during a British siege in the Battle of Bloody Mose.
Excerpts from Fort Mose in St. Augustine Bedtime Stories. Click for further information on this
fascinating historic series with 24 accounts of famous people and events.
fascinating historic series with 24 accounts of famous people and events.
Meet Police Chief
Jennifer Michaux
Police Commander
Jennifer Michaux, a
26-year veteran of
the St. Augustine
Police Department,
will succeed Barry
Fox as Police Chief
in June.
“Commander
Michaux’s ability to
think critically and articulate tangible
solutions, her vision for the future of
the St. Augustine Police Department,
and her approachable and empathetic
leadership style make her the best fit
for the immediate needs of our
community as the next Chief of
Police,” City Manager John Regan
says.
While Fox is retiring as Police
Chief, he will Remain with the city as
code enforcement manager.
Commander Michaux is a graduate
of the Florida Criminal Justice
Executive Institute’s “Executive
Leadership” training and of the
Florida Leadership Academy. She
holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
public administration from Flagler
College.
Commission wants half of
potential bed tax increase
City is still the main attraction in county
Stating, "People don't come to St. Johns County. They come to the oldest city
in the country," St. Augustine commissioners would seek half of a one cent
additional bed tax if the St. Johns County Commission decides on an increase.
Commissioner John Valdes noted the city is losing clout with the county
government because it represents a small portion of the county's population ―
15,415 of the county's 264,672 residents in 2019, according to U.S. Census
Bureau estimates.
But the city remains the main draw for tourism, he says, and the city has long
been feeling the impacts of tourism in road conditions, congestion and more.
"If you take St. Augustine out of St. Johns County, you've just got another …
county with golf courses and beaches. So we're not getting our fair shake now," Valdes says.
Commissioners are also concerned with speculation that the county would want to use the entire 1% increase
for beach renourishment in the north part of the county.
Valdes said he knows renourishing beaches is important, though he sees it "as futile."
Mayor Tracy Upchurch says he finds it "problematic" to spend bed tax dollars to renourish beaches "where there
is precious little access by the general public.
"That seems to me a … very poor usage of tourist development funds."
The possibility of increasing the bed tax for infrastructure projects has been brought to the commission by Vice
Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline, the city’s representative on the Tourist Development Council. That board has
been asked to weigh in with a “yea or nay” and spending recommendation to the county commission.
March 31 2021
Inaugural Lightner Le4xhibit: Antwan Ramar
The inaugural Lightner Local exhibition presents
Antwan Ramar: Contemporary Impressions April
2–May 23 in the Lightner Museum’s East Room
Gallery above the historic swimming pool.
In his work, Ramar brings a contemporary vision to
landscape painting while embracing historic traditions
and techniques. Presenting his plein air studies
alongside larger studio works, Ramar’s exhibition at the
Lightner explores his process of art making from field
study to final painting.
Originally from rural Wisconsin, Ramar studied art in
Southern California. Learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting gave him the tools to take his art
in any direction.
Ramar is a full-time painter, splitting his time between painting in his studio, teaching classes and
participating in plein air events around the country. “My paintings tell stories through the ephemeral
mood of natural light,” Ramar says. “I look for the subtle poetry of each subject, trying to paint the
adjective and not the noun of the scene.”
Tourism official looks
to COVID silver lining
Local hiring to meet demand
“Due to the foresight
of the St. Johns County
Board of County
Commissioners in
providing continued
tourism funding to
maintain awareness and
demand during the
darker days of COVID-
19, this county’s
investment is paying
dividends,” says Visitors
& Convention Bureau
President Richard Goldman.
“As a result of consumer confidence in the new vaccines
as well as increased pent-up travel demand, the St.
Augustine | Ponte Vedra hospitality industry is now in a
very aggressive hiring mode for full-time as well as part-
time employees,” he says.
“Throughout the area, there is a wide variety of positions
available including managers, assistant managers, food
servers and bartenders, housekeeping, engineering,
maintenance, and even actors.”
Goldman also suggests there’s a future for first time
tourism hires. “The U.S. Travel Association reports that
40% of workers whose first job was in travel are now
earning more than $100,000,” he says.
Listing a sample of local job openings he includes:
•
Ponte Vedra Inn & Club is hosting a job fair at the
resort on March 27
•
Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa contact:
Cameron.Bradley@Marriott.com
•
Embassy Suites by Hilton Oceanfront St. Augustine
Beach go to: Careers.HVMG.com (click on St.
Augustine)
•
Old Town Trolley Tours go to: HTAJOBS.com
(select St. Augustine)
•
The Columbia Restaurant contact:
colsaug@columbiarestaurant.com
Community recycle event
for Earth Day April 23
The City of St. Augustine
will host a special, free
community recycle event on
Friday, April 23, from 9 am-1
pm at the Solid Waste Facility
at the south end of Riberia
Street.
In celebration of this year’s
Earth Day theme, ‘Restore Our
Earth’, the City is offering the
community shredding
documents (5 box limit per resident), recycling outdated or
broken electronic devices, and disposal of used cooking oil.
“As a community, it is so important to take steps together
to ‘restore our Earth’,” says Glabra Skipp, Environmental
Program Coordinator. “As a coastal community, we have
even more responsibility to keep our local ecosystem
thriving, and this can be accomplished by properly
recycling waste, as well as doing what we can to maintain
the City’s wastewater system.”
Friends fight permit approval for Fish Island carwash
Supporters of the Fish Island Preserve are gathering to protest last week’s decision by the St. Johns River
Water Management District to issue a permit to Gate Express Carwash allowing construction of a 5,000 square
foot carwash immediately adjacent to Fish Island Preserve and construction of a storm water management
system on Fish Island property.
“Any construction through Fish Island Preserve for Gate’s storm water drainage is completely untenable,”
stated Jen Lomberk, Matanzas Riverkeeper. “We are talking about the disruption to wildlife habitat, natural and
historic resources and protected trees so Gate can have even more space for their express car wash.”
“It is essential that the City of St. Augustine fulfill its obligations to conserve and protect the natural resources
on Fish Island Preserve,” says Janet Patten, Friends of Fish Island.
The Preserve was purchased by the state of Florida in July 2019 using Florida Forever funding and St. Augustine
became the steward of Fish Island Preserve.
The construction Gate proposes for their storm water management plan on Fish Island Preserve will require
removal of protected Sand Live Oaks, as well as over 150 other trees. These protected species of trees can not be
removed without the approval of the City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board.
St. Johns Audubon Society President Amy Koch says, “the Fish Island Preserve is much needed habitat for the
fewer and fewer number of birds that live and migrate through the St. Augustine area. To date, birders have
verified over 70 species of birds at Fish Island Preserve.”
“We never want to see bulldozers destroying irreplaceable historic artifacts and existing resources on Fish
Island Preserve,” says immediate past President Marsha Chance, St. Augustine Archaeological Association. “As an
archaeologist, I first started examining historic resources on Fish Island in the early 2000s and I am absolutely
thrilled that the State of Florida has finally realized the importance of preserving this very important land.”
Even before Fish Island was acquired by the State of Florida, the land was recognized by many organizations for
its historical and ecological significance. Fish Island has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
since 1972. It was named by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation in 2019 as one of eleven most threatened
historic properties in the state. Fish Island Preserve is considered a Natural Resource of Regional Significance by
the Northeast Florida Regional Council and it is part of the North East Florida Blueway.