It's A Haigood Life!: St. Augustine

Saturday, March 9, 2013

St. Augustine - Part Two

After visiting the Castillo de San Marcos, we had a quick picnic lunch before we toured other parts of St. Augustine in the afternoon. We visited the Colonial Spanish Quarter, an interactive history museum that demonstrates life in St. Augustine in the 16th - 18th centuries.

We listened and watched a colonial blacksmith while he worked at the forge. He has reworked old metal into various tools, cooking utensils, hinges and nails. It took him 8 hours to make the chain & posts in the picture above.

We also had the chance to see some more of his work close up.

I think everyone's favorite part of the museum was the musket drill! The military gunsmith gave a great lesson in how to lock, load and fire a 17th century musket! (The muskets that the boys had were just replicas of course!)

What a fine bunch of soldiers!

The muskets were taller than Caleb and Joshua, so they had to work extra hard during the drill!

Lots of smiles and laughs!

At the end of their drill, they were officially serious soldiers! Well..at least for a few seconds anyway:)

After the drill, the military gunsmith gave a demonstration of locking, loading and firing a real musket! He had prepared the boys that it would be loud. They covered their ears in anticipation!

I didn't get the picture in time, but the shot went off in a puff of smoke and loud pop!

The boys also got to feel and hold an old chain-mail armour. It was really heavy! We could see why the soldiers stopped wearing these types of vests.

Our last stop in the museum was to the leather shop where the boys made souvenir leather necklaces with imprints from metal stamps.

Just walking down the main streets, there is so much history to see!

This is the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the United States.

We walked through the school shop just to look around. We found some pretty funny things:)

"Attitude Adjuster"

I never heard of these Dick and Jane books!

The boys laughed at the book titled "Dick and Jane and Vampires."

This is the oldest Drug Store. Apparently it is going to turn into a wax museum, so there were some interesting wax figures among the historical items.

I am glad the little boys thought this guy was funny and not too scary!!

They had a huge display some REALLY old medicine bottles. I think they are past their "best by" dates!! It was quite funny to read some of the labels!

After a full day of walking and exploring, the boys were "schooled out" so we packed up in the car and just drove by for a quick look at a few other sites. (The Oldest House, An Historic Lighthouse, The Fountain of Youth)

As we were driving through the streets, we noticed there was a peacock just hanging out by the street as we drove by. That's not something we would have found in our neighborhood!