Benet House

Have you ever stopped by Tedi's Olde Tyme Ice Cream on St. George Street? Long before serving sweet treats, the site was home to the Benet family and their store. Let us take a scoop into the past of 65 St. George Street. Located on the southeast corner of Cuna and St. George Streets, the …

Q & A with Governor’s House Library Intern Hunter Makin

Hunter Makin started as an intern at the Governor's House Library during his Spring Semester 2022 at Flagler College. Makin calls the city of Winter Garden, Florida home during his summers and breaks, but Saint Augustine his second home during the school year. As a student at Flagler, Makin is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts …

Hot Off The Presses: Printing History At San Agustin Antíguo

Extra, extra! Read all about it! Today, we have a piece of news that is not so hot off the presses. To be exact this story is over 50 years old: The printing pressed used by the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board from the 1960s until 1990s is a replica! The Board's shop built the …

Rita “Cookie” O’Brien’s Green Thumb

In 1969, St. Augustine Record journalist Anne Carling wrote "everything's coming up chrysanthemums, marigolds, zinnias, or petunias" for the St. Augustine Historic Restoration Commission (later renamed the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board). She really meant it as she covered the Commission's new project to construct a greenhouse on Cuna Street. With 15 gardens, the Commission …

Baking Cookies at the Spanish Bakery

There’s nothing quite like a cookie to get us in the holiday spirit, so we’re celebrating by highlighting the sweet treats from the Spanish Bakery. Located behind Salcedo House, this bakery once offered tourists "Spanish bread and cookies in the old-fashioned way" as part of the living history museum San Agustin Antiguo. Salcedo Kitchen, looking …

Vecinos en San Agustin (Neighbors in St. Augustine)

We think the best part about the de la Puente map is that we're able to make connections not only between people and their homes, but between neighbors. On Friday, we explored the Rodriguez family and their home, and today we're heading just a few feet southeast to the Sanchez de Ortigosa family. Jose Sanchez …

Florida’s First Hispanic Families

You may have walked up and down St. George Street countless times and never noticed the Rodriguez House, a petite structure unusually set far back from the road. It's nestled between the former Monk's Vineyard and the Spanish Dutch Convoy shop near the intersection of St. George and Cuna Streets. Though it's small in square …

A Tale of Two Ortegas

Have you ever been to the Hyppo on St. George Street? Way before they were serving us all deliciously cold pops, it was the home of the Ortega family!  If you've been following along this month, you know how vital the de la Puente map is to our understanding of Spanish colonial St. Augustine and …

A History Mystery: Who was Juan Garcia Martínez Gallegos?

At first glance, Gallegos House seems like an ordinary St. Augustine casa from the First Spanish Period (1513-1763). Juan Josef Elixio de la Puente on his 1764 map recorded the rectangular home built of ripio. He noted it belonged to Juan Garcia Martínez Gallegos. Almost two centuries later, the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board set …

Immigrants: We Get the Job Done

Here at Governor’s House, we spend a lot of time researching and talking about the buildings that the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board restored and reconstructed, but lately we’ve become interested in learning more about the people who made the dream of San Agustín Antiguo, their museum village, possible. One couple in particular, Kjell and …