It is inaccurate to dub St. Augustine, Florida as America’s oldest city. Native American mound cities in the Upper Midwest and the Anasazi Pueblo cities of southwestern Colorado predate St. Augustine by several hundred years, as do Mexico City and the ancient Mayan city of Tikal further south. However, St. Augustine was the initial permanent, declared European village in what is now the United States, established only a little over seventy years after Columbus’ historic voyage.

As you might expect, there is a lot in this area for the history buff, from the ruins of the original fort to the old town neighborhoods with colonial Spanish architecture and several museums. With an abundance of quaint, historic bed and breakfasts, you and your family will have no problem establishing a comfortable base of operations for your St. Augustine holiday exercusion.

It was actually 1513 when explorer Ponce de Leon, then governor of what is now Puerto Rico, landed in the region, claiming it for King Ferdinand of Castile and Queen Isabella of Aragon as Spain was not an officially unified kingdom until 1516. Contrary to popular myth, he was not searching for a “Fountain of Youth” but more tangible goods such as gold, slaves and land. It was decades before a permanent settlement could be established.

Once you and your family are happily booked in one of St. Augustine’s fine bed and breakfasts or beach vacations, you will find enough activities and attractions to last a lifetime ranging from outdoor sports and enlightening excursions to sheer entertainment and fun. Get started by discovering some of the vicinity as the earliest residents and early Spanish explorers saw it with St. Augustine Eco Tours, rated the number one experience among tourists. Traveling by kayak, you will see salt marshes and wetlands and can even encounter untamed dolphins at play. And even though it’s vacation time, you can keep the children learning with Sheriff’s Historical Tours, which takes you through 350 years of St. Augustine’s history. Another part of St. Augustine history worth seeing is El Castillo de San Marcos, an early Spanish military installation dating from the late 1600s.

Of course, the history of St. Augustine, like so many places in the region, is intimately tied to the Golden Age of the Pirates of the Caribbean who frequently made forays up the Florida coast. Kids of all ages will want to climb aboard the Black Raven for a taste of shipboard life on a 17th-Century privateer.

Budding herpetologists will get a kick out of discovering the last living relations of the earliest dinosaurs up-close and personal at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm which contains much more than just alligators. This is merely a small illustration of what awaits you and your family in this lovely town filled with sunshine a large amount of the year.

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