Fountain of Youth

1513...wow, almost 500 years ago.  We visited the Fountaina of Youth today, very interesting.  http://www.fountainofyouthflorida.com/  Being from Virginia, we are quite familiar with the British history part of our heritage, but not the amazing amount of Spanish influence. We are getting an education!

Here is the water flowing from the fabled fountain

You get a free cup of water directly from the Fountain of Youth, provided for your safety in Dixycups.

I'm not taking any chances ---I'M drinking it!!!

It's a nice place to visit, making me really think about the history of  Florida.  Here is a shot of the world as known in the 1500's - most of the North America, up to New Foundland, was Spanish "La Florida". By the late 1500s, the Spanish had claimed and established themselves in North, Central and South America, established universities in all three regions, and were hauling billions (?) in gold from Central America. This was referred to as the largest empire the world has ever seen.

Here's the exact spot where Ponce de Leon landed in 1513, honest...

As well as the landing of the Spanish, the park has a display of Timucua Indian life at the time.  The natives actually welcomed Ponce de Leon, allowed his men to live in the village, and shared their common lodge with them.  For 9 whole months.  Then the hositilies became too much and the Spanish were kicked out and forced to move to the outer island, Anantasia Island, to the east.

We had another cannon firing demonstration, this one particularly interesting to Luke.

This was a 1500s breech loading cannon -- seems about three centuries before its time. The breech section is removable, and two can be seen,  one on the ground in front of the wheel, the other upright on the barrel supports. These breech sections  were pre charged with gun powder by a loading crew. Another part of the crew placed the breech and cannon ball in the cannon and fired. With this technology and operation, the cannon could fire a 6 lb ball an amazing five to six times per minute! This compares with the muzzle loading cannon of the time, and of the next 300 years, being able to get off a shot every one to two minutes!  

The park is full of peacocks.  Beautiful birds,

tame (due to $0.25 peanut feedings).

There are even snow white peacocks, quite impressive.

This one decided to put on a display for Luke - not sure if it's a juvenile male or a female.  Guess I need to do some homework!

It's been fun in St. Augustine, especially with our time spent with Lisa, Mat, and Simon.  But the south (and warmer weather) calls, and we think we'll be heading towards Daytona tomorrow.  A fast track to Vero Beach, where we'll be staying for a few days.