Where Florida begins

I. Am. So. Jealous.

My Big Sister got to go with her class to St. Augustine, Florida for thei annual Big Trip ... and I wasn't allowed to go with her!

St. Augustine is a city in Northeast Florida and the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement and port in the continental United States.

San Agustín was founded in September 1565 by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, and subsequently served as the capital of Spanish Florida for 200 years. It remained the capital of East Florida as the territory changed hands between the Spanish and British, and remained the capital of the Florida Territory until it was moved to Tallahassee in 1824.

If I can't go to St. Augustine with her, I'll just go by myself.

St. Augustine was under Union control for most of the Civil War. Its Confederate history was exceedingly brief. One Union general and one Confederate general were natives of the Ancient City. 

Many black Union soldiers either came from St. Augustine, or settled there after the war. Many of the city's old cemeteries feature the distinctive marble tombstones marked "USCT" for the United States Colored Troops.