Saint Augustine
Florida
Oldest city in America*
A great place to live

SMALL CITY, BIG ADVANTAGES

Saint Augustine is unlike any other town in America. Where else in America can you walk narrow, cobblestone streets laid out by the Spanish (who settled here in the 1500s). Then walk through courtyards created by the rich and famous, for the rich and famous in the 1880s. Visit the only college in America where the stained glass windows in the cafeteria are by Tiffany!

In addition to rich history and fine art, Saint Augustine also offers superb boating, pristine beaches, fine dining, great fishing, hot surfing, awesome kayaking, cool galleries, live music, and some of the best bird watching in North America.

15. Major hurricanes to hit this region in 150 years = 1
(New York was hit 5 times in the same period!)**

Saint Augustine offers the best of many worlds. There is plenty of sunshine and warmth in the summer, but it is not sweltering like Miami. The occasional cool spell in winter [maybe even a few nights of frost] gives a better sense of the seasons than other parts of Florida, but ice is rare and snow even rarer.

Yes, this is a safe, quiet, comfortable place to live, with good schools and more old world charm than any other city in America. In addition to great local amenities, it offers remarkably easy access to many other great places.

Nearby I-95 will take you South to Daytona Beach and Miami, West via I-4 to Orlando, North to Jacksonville and Georgia. You can be at Jacksonville International (JAX) in under an hour, served by great connections to just about anywhere. Private aircraft and charter flights are served by the superb St. John's County Airport, which can handle anything up to and including a Boeing 747. Take your boat North or South on the Intracoastal Waterway that weaves its way through the town.

Shopping within Saint Augustine offers a wonderfully eclectic mix from around the world. You have outlet malls nearby and brand new upscale malls 30 minutes away. Yet all of this exists within a haven of marshes, waterways, ponds, and beaches that are rich in wild life and natural beauty. Herons, storks, pelicans, and osprey abound. Dolphins are often seen slicing through the local waters, as well as the occasional manatee (but alligator sightings are very rare).

Thinking of selling your house and moving here from San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, DC, or New York? Many people who do so find that they can afford a very nice home in Saint Augustine and still put a lot of money in the bank.

*Historical Notes:

Saint Augustine was founded by the Spanish in 1565. The claim to be the nation's oldest city should really be qualified as "the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States." Obviously there were many Native American cities in North America long before 1565. And the French actually formed a settlement in Florida a few years before the Spanish, but it was wiped out (by the Spanish, not the Native Americans). In any event, Saint Augustine pre-dates Jamestown, Virginia, by over 40 years. Heck, Saint Augustine had already been burned down--by Sir Francis Drake--and rebuilt before Jamestown was founded. Come and see where America started!

Hurricane data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "Hurricane direct hits on the mainland U.S. coastline and for individual states 1851-2004 by Saffir/Simpson category." Remember that whenever news headlines say "Hurricane Hits Florida" they are not telling the whole truth, which is: the whole of Florida is not being hit. Hurricanes just aren't that big. Remember that Florida is a land mass larger than Great Britain. There is plenty of evidence that the parts of Florida with long-standing Native American communities, of which Saint Augustine and Jacksonville are prime examples, don't get hit by hurricanes. To put it the other way round: the Indians of Florida chose to live in the parts of Florida that the hurricanes tended to miss (based on thousands of years of data, not just a few hundred).

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