Oldest House: Saint Augustine, Florida: February 11

The Oldest House is a site that has been occupied by Saint Augustinians for more than three centuries. The house started out as a thatched wooden structure beginning around 1650, however, later the coquina stone house was built since the English burned Saint Augustine in 1702. The house then grew from a one-story rectangle to a two-story house with new features that were added by the Spanish, British, and American occupants. 

For more information about the history of this site please visit: https://saintaugustinehistoricalsociety.org/oldest-house-museum-complex/ 

-Artifacts-

Artifact #1

This was a painting that was hanging in the oldest house complex. This painting depicts Native Americans being held at Fort Castillo de San Marcos. This painting was called Indians at Castillo and was painted by James Calvert Smith in 1943.

Artifact #2

 

This is a photo of a portrait of Saint Augustine that was woven with Silk thread and called Saint Augustine and was woven by Alex Albert in 1853.

-Exterior Photos-

Exterior Photo #1

This is a photo of the outside of the Oldest House Complex. 

Exterior Photo #2

This is another photo of the front entrance of the Oldest House Complex. 

-Images in Conversation with the Site-

Image in Conversation #1

This is a photo of the city gates to Saint Augustine. I selected this image because touring the oldest house complex really made me want to look deeper into the long history of Saint Augustine so I have been looking at old photos of the city like this one for a while and decided to pick this one to include in my blog since both the photo and the house are historic. 

Source- https://www.google.com/search?q=saint+augustine+black+and+white+city&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjjz_XAmOPuAhUSU1MKHeeqDA4Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq=saint+augustine+black+and+white+city&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1DcEFiLLWD0LmgAcAB4AIABWYgBnwOSAQE1mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=X9klYKOkLpKmzQLn1bJw&bih=721&biw=1333&rlz=1CAOTWH_enUS900#imgrc=TMTVC8uorgn9bM

Image in Conversation #2

This is another photo that I found while looking through old archives. This is a photo of the Oldest house that was taken in 1913. The reason I chose this photo is that it was just another really cool historic black and white photo that I thought blended well with the history behind the oldest house. Especially since this photo is of the oldest house. 

Source- https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/147945

- The English 202 Connection-

One concept that was discussed in English and in the book Kindred by Octavia Butler is the concept of home. In the book, Dana essentially has two homes her home in her time in California, and eventually, she calls the Weylin plantation home as well. The book illustrates how the concept of home can be quite fluid and how even the most hostile of places can come to feel like home to people. For example in Kindred one of the first things Dana says is: "I lost an arm on my last trip home." (Butler, 9). This concept of home is woven throughout the story, however, begins in the very first sentence of the novel. Further, I thought this concept fit very well with the Oldest House given the fact that this house was so many homes for so many different people, and how the house and the concept of home with it changed throughout the centuries. Just like how the concept of home changed throughout Kindred.

-Creative Component-

These are two photos that I put together that I took at the Oldest house. When we toured the Oldest House we learned that the bottom floor is the oldest part of the house and was built long before the second floor was built. I edited the image on the bottom of the bottom floor to make it look older, to do this I increased the contrast and made the photo black and white to make it look older. Then when we moved to the newer second floor I kept the photo in color and increased the saturation to make the room appear to be newer and illustrate the progress between the two floors. With these two opposite edits, I believe that this image effectively illustrates the contrast between not only the top and bottom floors of the house but also the contrast of the times the two floors were built.