Touristy but not tacky, St. Augustine carries its past with pride

Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America, and it still has the architecture to prove it. Its narrow streets and central plaza were laid out by Spanish decree in 1598. It boasts many fine Spanish and British Colonial structures, including at least 43 homes built before 1820.

Some are made of exotic materials like tabby (a mix of lime, shell, and sand) or coquina (stone formed from crushed shells). Many are charming and well-maintained, with interesting architectural details and lively stories about prior owners. Unfortunately, they often house some sort of tourist facility. St. Augustine has 27 museums, plus many gift and souvenir shops, restaurants, inns, and other structures that capitalize on its historic status.

The city boasts not only “the oldest house’’ (built between 1702 and 1707), but also “the oldest wooden schoolhouse’’ in the country (1716), a plaza claimed to be “the oldest public space in America’’ (1573), and a public marketplace “with the first system of weights and measures to protect consumers buying meat and produce’’ (1598). Even “the oldest wash house’’ (1802) is proudly displayed.

If you want to find a grocery store, pharmacy, or other business (except for restaurants) serving the local population, you have to travel outside the historic downtown, often for several miles.

It may be touristy, but it’s not tacky. Not only on St. George Street and its pedestrian mall, but down many side streets and especially south of the plaza, you can find scores of architecturally significant homes that project a genuine gentility. The best way to see them is to get one of the many walking guides available at the cavernous tourist center on Avenida Menendez and tour around on your own.

Architecture buffs will find Spanish Colonial (12 Aviles St.), British Colonial (55 St. George), Carpenter Gothic (232 St. George), Colonial Revival (32, 33 Sevilla St.), American Territorial (46 St. George), Romanesque Revival (30 Carrera St.), Spanish Renaissance (Flagler College), Moorish Revival (Casa Monica Hotel), Venetian Renaissance (36-38 Sevilla St.), Mediterranean Revival (Visitors’ Information Center, Avenida Menendez), Queen Anne (9 Carrrera St.), and Victorian (142 Avenida Menendez) styles, as well as idiosyncratic vernacular structures dating to the 18th century (26 Cuna St.). All are located in a compact area about 12 blocks long and seven blocks wide.

In some cases, several styles are evident in one building. Among these is “the oldest house’’ in St. Augustine, the Gonzales-Alvarez home at 14 St. Francis St. Sometime from 1702 to 1707, Tomas Gonzales, a Spanish soldier, built a two-room, flat-roofed house here. It had a tabby floor, coquina walls, and was heated by brasiers in each room. When Florida was ceded by Spain to Britain in 1763, the house was sold to Major Joseph Peavett, a retired English officer, who added British touches, including a second floor. After Spain regained control of the area in 1781, the home was occupied by another Spaniard, Geronimo Alvarez. His descendants, including one who became the city’s mayor, altered rooms to hold City Council meetings here.

We stayed in The Westcott House, a Victorian B&B full of antiques, although most of its guest rooms have been renovated to provide modern pleasures. Our room, for $149 a night, had a large two-headed shower, a double Jacuzzi, and two private balconies overlooking the Matanzas River and a historic side street where horse-drawn carriages passed by. Staff provided considerate service, and we found several good restaurants within walking distance.

We never found the soulfulness we sought, but we did feel a connection to the past, especially when we came across this fact: When St. Augustine was a British bastion in the late 1700s, American patriots and their French allies were taken prisoner “but given the liberty of the town,’’ a marker in the central plaza notes. They even were allowed “to rent their own quarters, or prison cells.’’

“You might conclude,’’ a companion quipped, “that tourism as a profit industry started a long time ago in this town.’’

Judith Gaines can be reached at gaines.judith@gmail.com.