Under the dominion of the United States, St. Augustine soon became a health and pleasure resort. Without manufactures, with, as yet, no products of agriculture for export, its fine port is destitute of commerce, and its easy-going population have ever since depended upon the attractions offered by their city to invalids and persons of fortune, for the means with which to procure the necessaries and luxuries which its inhabitants enjoy in a fair measure. Strangers often wonder how the town is supported, but upon investigation it is found that the frugality of the people is remarkable. Their independence comes from what they save rather than from what they earn. While there is little wealth among its citizens, there is little actual want. The many girls and young ladies always dress with neatness and taste, and many earn the means to support themselves by braiding palmetto for hats and baskets, making feather flowers, shell, and fish-scale ornaments, and bouquets of the native grasses. The town has long been noted for the number and health of its young children.
In 1834 the city contained 1,739 inhabitants, of whom 498 were males, 519 females, 151 free colored persons, and 571 slaves. Of these, 10 were lawyers, 3 doctors, 1 printer, 7 dry-goods dealers, 6 keepers of boarding-houses, 13 grocers, 1 painter, 7 carpenters, 4 masons, 2 blacksmiths, 1 gunsmith, 2 shoemakers, 1 baker, 2 tailors, 1 tanner, and 5 cigar-makers. The present population of the city is, by the census of 1880, about 2,300, of which about the same number follow the above callings as in 1834, with the exception of lawyers and grocers, of whom there are not more than half the former number. There is no bank in the city, its place being supplied by the money-order department of the post-office. The colored population are much more intelligent, better educated, and generally superior to the individuals of that unfortunate race found in other parts of the South. This is partly owing to the large number of free negroes here before the Emancipation, and also to the advantages they have derived from contact with the visitors and residents coming from all parts of the country. In 1843 the poet Bryant remarked the fact above stated, saying, “In the colored people whom I saw in the Catholic church I remarked a more agreeable, open, and gentle physiognomy than I have been accustomed to see in that class.”[39]
Many of the most interesting old structures have, unfortunately, been torn down. As these attractive old relics of antiquity are swept away, some ignorant iconoclast bids the people rejoice over a new “city improvement,” forgetting that there are many modern cities in America, and but one “ancient city.” The building now used as a post-office has, in this way, been remodeled from a quaint and interesting old Spanish structure, with its court-yard and balconies, into a commonplace modern structure. Even the old coquina lunette standing in the same yard on the corner of King and Tolomato Streets had to succumb to personal interest and the demand for “improvements,” and was swept away, thus depriving the city of one of its most attractive mementoes.
The fort, the Spanish monument, the cathedral, and the city gates yet remain, preserved from the hands of vandals. The city has lately repaired the sentry-boxes, constructed in the pilasters of the city gate, and doubtless from this time on there will be an effort made to preserve all of the old relics yet remaining.
In 1879 the Ladies’ Memorial Association obtained permission of the city to remove to the plaza a monument that had been erected on St. George Street to the memory of the soldiers of St. Augustine and vicinity who died in the late “war between the States.” This monument now stands near the east end of the plaza, and preserves the names of those whose memory it is intended to perpetuate, engraved upon two marble slabs set into the masonry. Its inscriptions are as follows:
“Our dead.”
“Erected by the Ladies’ Memorial Association of St. Augustine, Fla., A.D. 1872.”
“In Memoriam. Our loved ones who gave their lives in the service of the Confederate States.”
In the military cemetery near the barracks are three small pyramids built of masonry and whitewashed, marking the place where are interred the remains of Major Dade and his one hundred and seven comrades massacred by the Indians near the Withlacoochee River, on the 28th of December, 1835. They were buried on the battle-field by a detachment that was sent out for their succor, but arrived too late. Upon the removal of their remains to St. Augustine, these pyramids were erected, and also a handsome monument. The monument is of marble, a broken pillar or shaft upon a square pedestal, with inscriptions on the four faces.
On the first we read: