The Spanish Quarter

Back to Chapter Six: St. Augustine

Our last stop in St. Augustine was at the "Spanish Quarter."  It doesn't look like much from the outside, but once you walk through the door, you find yourself surrounded by mementos from another era.  The re-enactors spend a lot of time in their "shops" and are actually building things.  The carpenter constructed the buildings, the leather worker crafted the bellows for the blacksmith, and the blacksmith made the leather worker's tools.We especially enjoyed the carpenter.  He and Eli talked for nearly an hour about the woodworking he'd done and the history of construction that he'd researched.

The "doctor's office."

I found the leather worker's trade fascinating.  He made all sorts of items out of leather from belts, wallets, and shoes to pouches, flasks, and mugs.

The blacksmith's job isn't often cold.

This man was re-enacting a Spanish officer.  He was full of interesting information like the fact that that beautiful bed would have been considered cheap since it wasn't made out of one piece of wood.  I wish our cheap furniture nowadays was that nice looking!