March 16, 2010: St. Augustine, FL

We had a nice breakfast at the Inn which included Belgium waffles with fruit and whipped cream.   Fruit, country ham, and toast was available. 

Toured the Oldest House in the U.S.   They used to have swinging shelves in their homes which were used to scare the rats. Rats didn't like the swinging so they would jump back down on the ground.  Imagine living in a home with rats and mice. 

Toured the Castille de San Marco (fort), Fountain of Youth (Ponce de Leon landed here), Old Jail, and the Oldest School.   I would highly recommend the jail tour.  Prisoners were treated very poorly back then.   They worked 12 hrs on roads, wearing weights around their ankles.    The jail cells could be as warm as 110 degrees.  Many of the prisoners died of disease within a month.
They might be lucky to get a bath once a month, in which all of them used the same water.
Women prisoners did the cooking for the men which consisted of mainly beans and coffee.

On the tour of the oldest school, we learned that the bad kids would have the dunce hats on. The extra bad kids would be put in a hole on the floor called a dungeon.     I had never heard that before.

Had a nice seafood dinner at O.C. Whites.  I would highly recommend this place.

Our B&B had appetizers and then dessert in the evening. We went to the 

Ale Works and had their famous root beer.  

There is a ghost story book of St. Augustine they have in the gift shop.  It talks about our room at the Inn, Lilly's room.    There have been sightings of Lillys ghost in the room.    Lilly was an African American servant here many years ago, who had a love affair with the house owner's nephew.   It was a forbidden love.    

Anyway, some guests who have stayed in Lillys room have had experiences with Lillys ghost.  Apparently, she doesn't like MTV, so I turned it on to see if she shows up tonight. 

Tomorrow, we are off to the Lighthouse in St. Augustine and then start our decent south towards Melbourne.