First Congregation Sons of Israel

 St. Augustine, Florida 

Thursday, April 7, 2022

     The First Congregation Sons of Israel was founded in 1908 after a number of Eastern European Jews had settled in St. Augustine in the late 1800s. Under the leadership of Rabbi Jacob Tarlinsky and his wife, Dora, the Synagogue was dedicated in 1923 with the completion and first service on March 30, 1924. The Synagogue was an orthodox one where women and men were separated during the service, the women and children seated above on the balcony. 

    Over the years, the Synagogue has changed in a number of ways. During the first half of the 20th century, the pews and hard benches were replaced with previously-used theater seats, a bimah was built, and the Ark was moved into the location. In 1958, the original windows were replaced with stained glass ones taken from a synagogue that was going to be torn down in Atlanta. They were obtained and installed by Rabbi Jacob and Mrs. Dora Tarlinksky's three daughters.

    Unfortunately, the building was damaged by both hurricanes Matthew and Irma. The floors were saved, the seats were repaired by a local cushion maker, and the original chandelier and ceiling decoration was lost. Now, on the ceiling is a large Star of David which was designed and created by a Flagler Student. The Synagogue is a beautiful place to visit and attend a service. 

https://www.firstcongregationsonsofisrael.com/ 

Exterior Photo 1

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Artifact Photo 1

    The Torah is the first part of the Jewish bible. It is the central and most important document of Judaism and has been used by Jews through the ages. It refers to the five books of Moses which are known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Jews believe that God dictated the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai 50 days after their exodus from Egyptian slavery. It is believed by them that the Torah shows how God wants Jews to live. As a whole, the Torah contains 613 commandments and Jews refer to the ten best as the 10 statements. 

    The Torah is written in Hebrew, the oldest of Jewish languages. The scrolls are taken out from the Ark and portions are read in the synagogue. Scrolls are entirely written in Hebrew on a softer parchment from a kosher animal. It can take up to 18 months to complete the whole process. The scrolls shown above came over from Europe. 

Artifact Photo 2

    The stained glass windows are the most outstanding features of the Synagogue. These Spanish-style white stucco windows were created between 1889 and 1890 for the Ahawas Achim, an Orthodox Synagogue in Atlanta. In the 1950s, the windows were salvaged when the synagogue was torn down for the construction of the interstate. As stated above, the windows were obtained and installed in the sanctuary by Rabbi Jacob and Mrs. Dora Tarlinsky's three daughters, Sarah Bernstein, Florence Feiden, and Lena Lichter. When the windows needed restoration in 2013, Ken Hardenmen, the great-grandson of the original window artist had completed that task. 

Image in Conversation #1

https://www.businessyab.com/explore/united_states/new_jersey/bergen_county/woodcliff_lake/overlook_drive/87/temple_emanuel_of_the_pascack_valley_44499

    The image above is Temple Emanuel which is located about 12 minutes from my house at home. I have attended multiple Bar/Bat Mitzvah services here for friends. Temple Emanuel of Pascack Valley is a warm and welcoming Conservative Synagogue that has been the center of Jewish life in the Pascack Valley of Bergen County, New Jersey since 1927. 

    Their services are spiritual and inclusive. The Rabbi there guides the congregation in interpreting the prayers. It is a place where the children learn to appreciate the gift of their Jewish heritage. The Synagogue currently has over 500 family units that live in towns from Mahwah and Upper Saddle River to River Vale and Emerson and everywhere in between.  

Image in Conversation #2

https://www.tomschifanella.com/blog/tiffany-glass-at-flagler-college-st-augustine-florida

    Pictured above one of the staircases in the former Ponce De Leon Hotel, now currently occupied as Flagler College. The Ponce de Leon Hotel was an exclusive luxury hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, built by millionaire developer and standard oil co-founder Henry Flagler. The hotel's design was of Spanish Renaissance by the New York architecture firm Carrère & Hastings. This hotel was also one of the first buildings in the country wired for electricity since the beginning and installed by Thomas Edison. 

    In both the dining hall and spread throughout the interior of the building is stained glass. Not any type of stained glass, but Tiffany stained glass. The interior design of the hotel was headed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. His company of Tiffany &. Co provided the stained glass windows in the hotel's dining room. Ponce de Leon has the largest collection of private Tiffany Stained Glass Windows in the world. The building is one of a kind and absolutely gorgeous. 

Literature in Conversation 

    In the novel Parable Of The Sower by Octavia E. Butler, the woman Lauren takes on the role of being a leader in her community. She guides multiple individuals and tries her best to enforce her new religion towards the people in the end. On page 143, an individual says to Lauren, "If you still want to play a man, I'll cut your hair for you", showing that if she wants to continue on and fight, she will have to pretend to be a man (Butler 143). As shown very prominently in the novel, Lauren recognizes that the world is made for men to survive but she as a woman takes the position. The statement of the world is for men correlates to the Synagogue because as explained and even in the title of the establishment that "sons", women were not as prominent of characters. 

    

Creative Component 

    This is a piece of stained glass I created to show all of the pictures my friends and I took at all of our site visits. The stained glass from the Synagogue stuck with me and inspired me to create my own memorable images. The image I created also displays the preservation of friendship. 

Castillo de San Marcos

 St. Augustine, Florida

Thursday, March 31, 2022

    The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. It is located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay, on the way to the Ponce De Leon bridge. The monument was designed by the Spanish engineer Ignacio Daza, with construction beginning in 1672, 107 years after the city's founding. The fort's construction was ordered by Governor Francisco de la Guerra y de la Vega after a raid of the English in 1668 destroyed much of the existing wooden fort. Under the administration of Guerra, the first coquina stones were laid in 1672. The construction of the current fortress was completed in 1695, though it has undergone many alterations and renovations over the centuries. 

https://www.nps.gov/casa/index.htm

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Artifact Photo 1

    The photo above shows a zoomed-in angle of the coquina stone used to build the fort. In the waters of coastal Florida resides tiny coquina clams. They are small pink, lavender, yellow or white shells that are most generally spotted along the waterline at the beach. When the clams died, the shells accumulated in layers for thousands of years forming submerged deposits several feet thick. The shells were eventually exposed to air and rain which caused them to be covered with soil, then trees, and other forms of vegetation. Through the vegetation and soil, it picked up carbon dioxide and became carbonic acid. As the acid-soaked through the layers of the shells, it dissolved some of the calcium in the shells producing calcium carbonate. The material then "glued" the shell fragments together into a limestone known as coquina. 

    While the Spanish had ownership of Castillo de San Marcos, they began the construction of the monument. The coquina stone was quarried at present-day Anastasia State Park. Military engineers and stonemasons were brought in from Spain and oyster shells were burned into lime and mixed with sand and water to create mortar. Slowly, the walls had risen. 

    Coquina stone had changed St. Augustine. The rock made out of seashells turned out to be an excellent building material and has been used on many other structures around town. 

Artifact Photo 2

    Pictured above are seven cast iron howitzers of various sizes. Howitzers are generally large ranged weapons between a cannon and a motor. Cannons are smaller and have higher velocity shells fired at flatter trajectories while mortars fire at higher angles of ascent and descent. There are multiple howitzers placed around the fort that were used to protect the individuals inside and fight against the enemies. 

    The first artillery identified as howitzers developed in the late sixteenth century as a medium trajectory weapon. Originally intended for use in siege warfare, they were particularly useful for delivering cast-iron shells filled with gunpowder or incendiary materials into the interior of fortifications. In the middle of the eighteenth century, a lot of European armies began to introduce howitzers that were mobile enough to accompany armies in the field. 

    Now, these howitzers aren't as common but are still active. The M198 is currently used in service with both the US Army and the Marine Corps though it is being replaced by the M777 ultra-lightweight 155mm howitzer in selected units. 

Image in Conversation #1

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2013/07/07/fort-sumter-national-monument-where-the-civil-war-began/2493645/

    The attack on Fort Sumter marked the official beginning of the American Civil War, a war that lasted four years, cost the lives of more than 620,000 Americans and freed 3.9 million enslaved people from bondage. On April 12, 1861, forces of the Confederate States of America attacked the United States military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Less than two days later, the fort surrendered. No one was killed. 

    Months earlier, seven states including South Carolina had seceded from the U.S. The attempts by President Buchanan to supply the U.S. troops at Fort Sumter had failed which led to new President Lincoln telling South Carolina's governor that he would try to supply the U.S. troops. At that moment, the governor of South Carolin demanded all troops to evacuate Fort Sumter immediately. Although, the troops did not evacuate until they faced overwhelming force causing them to surrender. 

    The Confederate victory at the Battle of Fort Sumter resulted in enormous support for military action. 

Image in Conversation #2

https://www.historynet.com/weapons-of-world-war-i/

    Rifles are long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting. They are typically designed to be held with both hands and braced firmly against the shooter's shoulder via a buttstock for stability during shooting. Rifles are used extensively in warfare, self-defense, law enforcement, crime, hunting, and shooting sports. 

    The origin of rifles is difficult to trace, but some of the earliest practical experiments seem to be carried out in Europe during the 15th century. They were created as an improvement in the accuracy of smoothbore muskets. In World War I, all of the world's armies were equipped with bolt-action rifles. The Russian Empire produced the world's first battle rifle and only about 100 were produced and used during the war before the Russian Civil war forced Russia to withdraw its forces in 1917. During the battle of World War II, the battle rifle was of major significance with the United States, Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan all producing them in some capacity. Since then, rifles are used in a lot of events and are currently still used as a major military weapon. 

Literature in Conversation 

    During my visit to the Castillo, as a class, we learned about the fort walls and what they were able to provide for the individuals inside. The walls served as a protective barrier from the others on the other side trying to enter and cause chaos. While there, I thought about Parable Of The Sower by Octavia E. Butler because the individuals there live within a wall. On page 8, Lauren had written in her journal "That was before Dad's parents were robbed and murdered. Before there was a neighborhood wall. Crazy to live without a wall to protect you", this demonstrates that the wall in their community served the purpose of protecting the families from the dangerous people on the outside (Butler 8). Both of the locations supply a barrier from the outside world to help protect individuals from what could occur if it were not there or at least to help limit the amount of danger. 

Creative Component 

    This is an acrostic poem about losing someone who has fought in battle. The emotions and experiences felt by the loved ones. 

Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center

St. Augustine, Florida 

Thursday, March 24, 2022

    The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center, formerly known as Excelsior Museum and Cultural Center is an African American history museum located at 102 Martin Luther King Avenue. It is located in the former Excelsior High School, St. Augustine's first black public high school. The building is held in the neighborhood known as Lincolnville which was originally a distinct town but is now a piece of the city of St. Augustine. It was originally settled by freed black slaves after the American Civil War. 

    The museum was primarily founded by Otis Mason, an Excelsior High School alum, who in 1984, became the first Black superintendent of the St. Johns County School District. The main focus of the museum is on the history, culture, and contributions of African Americans in the St. Augustine area. 

    The mission of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center is "to preserve, promote and perpetuate over 450 years of the African American story through the arts, educational programs, lectures, live performances and exhibits". 

https://www.lincolnvillemuseum.org/

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Artifact Photo 1

    The photo above shows a book all about Frank B. Butler. He was an African American businessman who originally established a beach resort for African Americans during the segregation era. He had worked in Fernandina Beach, St. Augustine, and then in the Lincolnville neighborhood where he had established his own market as well as a real estate business. He had acquired land on Anastasia Island which stretches between the Atlantic Ocean and Matanzas River. That is the location of the beach area resort for African Americans. It became known as Butler Beach. In Lincolnville, he ran the Palace Market next to his home at 87 Washington Street. 

    Butler was born in Du Pont, Georgia in 1885. He moved to Fernandina Beach in 1902 and worked for a Mr. Salvador who moved to St. Augustine and opened a fish market. Butler worked for him as a butcher in Snyder's Market. After Frank B. Butler's death, the park that he worked on was named Frank B. Butler County Park. 

Artifact Photo 2

 

    Willie Galimore "The Wisp" was an American football halfback for the Chicago Bears from 1957 to 1963. He was born March 30, 1935, and died July 27, 1964. Galimore attended Excelsior High School in St. Augustine and went to college at Florida A&M University. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. In his football career, he possessed incredible speed and lateral movement. He was cited to be one of the fastest running backs in professional football. Continuing on with his football career, in a documentary shot by NFL films, it was said that Galimore was probably the last great find before NFL scouting became sophisticated. Due to his skills as a halfback, he was drafted in the fifth round of the 1956 NFL draft. 

    In Galimore's last visit to his hometown in St. Augustine, he participated in the St. Augustine movement during the Civil Rights Movement. He had become the first Black person who was able to register as a guest at the Ponce de Leon Hotel. His civil rights activism is honored with a Freedom Trail marker at his home at 57 Chapin Street in St. Augustine. 

    At age 29, Galimore was killed in an automobile accident on July 27, 1964, in Indiana. His number 28 was then retired by the Chicago Bears. Galimore's life will forever be spoken about in St. Augustine. 

Image in Conversation #1 

https://www.notarowindows.com/famous-front-doors-in-tv-films/matilda-the-chokey-front-door/

    The clip above is of the chokey in Ms. Trunchbull's office from the movie Matilda. Closely related to an iron maiden, the chokey is designed to be so narrow that no one can sit or squat while in it. It is filled with glass sticking out of the walls and nails on the door. The device was used to torture anyone who broke the rules. It is basically a torture device. 

    The chokey ties into what I saw at the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center. When you first walk through the door, you see the obelisk created for the Obelisk Art 450 Tour of Compassion. It used to "pay tribute to the 450th anniversary of the Nation's Oldest City and promoted a legacy of compassion in St. Augustine". The Obelisk that won the competition was created by Joe Segal and it "represents the chief of a tribe and the nails and shards he was imbedded with symbolize the trials and hardships that his tribe had to endure". It also stated, "If Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights and Compassion were not under attack, the constitution would not be needed". The look of the object reminded me immediately of the chokey because it looks as if it is a device to torture people even though in real life, it is a symbol of paying tribute. It correlates with the hardships the black people of St. Augustine and the world had to endure. 

Image in Conversation #2

https://www.britannica.com/event/Montgomery-bus-boycott

    As most of us know, above is a picture of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This boycott was a civil rights protest during the period in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956. 

    Just a couple days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested and fined for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. She was commuting home from her job at a local department store. She was seated in the front row of the "colored section", but when the white seats filled, the driver asked Parks and three others to vacate their seats, but she refused. 

    This political and social protest against the policy of racial segregation in the public transit system was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States. This event ties into the peaceful protests that happened in St. Augustine such as the Woolworth lunch counter sit-in. In July 1963, the St. Augustine Four started a sit-in protest at Woolworth's lunch counter in St. Augustine. The group along with several others were arrested and taken to jail. These peaceful protests were done to try and get segregation to go away and eventually they succeeded. 

Literature in Conversation 

       Tying into a previous post, I had talked about the Luako and a crossed-out section. Well, another section stuck out to me which is "Despite the nurse midwives' creditable record of services, their role in assisting with home births in Guam has disappeared, owing to a combination of factors such as development of the U.S. medical care model, the end of midwifery training, new licensure requirements, increased numbers of physicians, and then opening of new hospital facilities. The focus on the birthing process shifted away from families and home to an institutionalized medical setting " (Perez). This section focuses on how the jobs of individuals got taken away because of the improvements in another country. It shows how there was discrimination amongst the individuals who were not a part of the U.S. medical care system. The crossing out displays a forgotteness, Guam individuals were just erased and in the past. The midwives had creditable records but they were not seen as good enough. Their role in the world disappeared. 

Creative Component 

https://www.history.com/news/bold-women-who-changed-the-world

    This image displays 10 underappreciated world-changing women. 

 1. Sybil Ludington: The Female Paul Revere 

2. Claudette Colvin: Teenaged Civil Rights Activist

3. Jane Addams: Pioneer for Social Change

4. Hedy Lamarr: Invented Tech Behind Wi-Fi

5. Rosalind Franklin: Revealed DNA's Structure

6. Babe Didrikson Zaharias: First Female Sports Star

7. Sojourner Truth: A Voice that Changed a Nation

8. Jeannette Rankin: Broke Barriers Before Women Could Vote

9. Chien-Shiung Wu: Disproved a 30-year Old Law of Nature

10/11. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rae Rivera: LGBTQ Activists Who Dared to be Themselves 

Lightner Museum

 St. Augustine, Florida 

Thursday, March 17, 2022

    The Lightner Museum is a museum of antiques, mostly American Gilded Age pieces, housed within the Hotel Alcazar building. The museum occupies three floors of the former Hotel Alcazar. The first floor houses a Victorian Science and Industry Room that displays shells, rocks, minerals, and Native American artifacts. Furthermore, the first floor contains a music room filled with instruments dating from the 1870s through the 1920s. The second floor contains cut glass, Victorian art glass, and stained-glass work from Louis Comfort Tiffany's studio. On the top floor is the ballroom's upper balcony which exhibits paintings, sculptures, and furniture. Looking down from the balcony is where the swimming pool used to be which now hosts Cafe Alcazar. At the Lightner Museum, they are "inclusive, inspiring, engaging and stewards" (Lightner Museum). 

https://lightnermuseum.org/

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Artifact Photo 1

    The above photo displays Egyptian, Syrian, and Roman examples of oil lamps. The lamps are used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although the use is less common. They work the same way as a candle would. There are multiple components to the oil lamp consisting of the shoulder, the pouring hole, the wick hole and nozzle, the handle, the discus, and the fuel chamber. Oil lamps can be categorized based on different criteria including material, shape, structure, design, and imagery. For example, there are seven different categories to be split amongst such as wheel-made, volute (early imperial), high imperial, frog, African red slip, slipper, and factory lamps. 

Artifact Photo 2

    The origin of the use of cigar bands is a myth. One legend reports that Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia in the late 18th century did not want to stain her fingers so she took cigars wrapped in silk. Other tales have been told of paper bands used on cigars exported to Europe to prevent the staining of gentleman's white gloves. Cigars were just becoming popular in Europe in the 1800s. A German is credited by the Cubans for inventing the modern-day cigar band. Gustave Bock was an immigrant to Cuba who owned a cigar factory and seeking to protect his brand, he placed a paper ring with his signature on each of his cigars for export. By 1855, nearly every Cuban export carried a cigar band and the bands were registered with the government. Cigar bans became an eye-catching addition to cigars in general. As bands became more prevalent, they became more colorful, and collecting cigar bands became popular. As shown above, is a collection of cigar band labels over the years which were used to create a piece of artwork. 

Image in Conversation #1

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Titanic

    The artifact of the I.C. Woodward Model Steamboat reminded me of the Titanic. The Titanic was designed by the Irish shipbuilder William Pirrie and built-in Belfast was sought to be the world's fastest ship. The ship spanned 883 feet from stern to bow and its hull was divided into 16 compartments because four of the compartments could be flooded without causing a critical loss of buoyancy, the Titanic was considered unsinkable. The vessel set out at full speed for New York City on April 14th, 1912. Just before midnight, the ship failed to divert its course from an iceberg and ruptured at least five of its compartments. Those compartments filled with water and pulled down the bow of the ship causing it to sink and the stern raised up to an almost vertical position above the water. The Titanic then broke in half, and, at about 2:20 am, on April 15th, the stern and bow sank to the ocean floor. Due to a shortage of lifeboats and a lack of emergency procedures, more than 1,500 people went down on the ship or froze to death in the icy North Atlantic waters. Most of the 700 or so survivors were women and children. 

    The wreck of the Titanic was discovered in 1985 by a Franco-American expedition sponsored by the United States Navy. Thousands of artifacts have been recovered and displayed at multiple museums around the world. The Titanic has become one of the most famous ships in history. 

Image in Conversation #2

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ln4na

    One of the first things that caught my eye in the museum was the golden candelabrum which immediately led my mind to think of beauty and the beast. Lumière is a candelabrum with a bronze human-like face, arms tipped with candles, and legs to walk with as well. In the museum, the candelabrum had a figure of a woman and on her head was the candle-holding portion. Comparing the two objects, they are quite similar in the way they are configured and color-wise as well. 

    A candelabrum is a term that originated from Latin and translates to candle-tree. That is due to the many branches or arms of the candelabrum, resembling that of a tree spreading its branches in all directions. The candle has been around as early as 3000 BC and since then, displaying light is a necessity. Candleholders or candelabrums made of clay have been found dating back to 400 BC. In the 1800s, antique silver candelabrums became a regular at the evening dinner table, providing illumination and decoration. Today, candelabrums are used for decoration and sometimes for illumination like in the olden times. 

Literature in Conversation 

    In the excerpt from Habitat Threshold, by Craig Santos Perez, he touches on a lot of issues concerning global warming and our planet. His poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Glacier", displays ways to look at one specific subject, such as a glacier, and digs deeper into the meaning of it. In the thirteenth reason (the first in the poem), he says "Among starving polar bears, / the only moving thing / was the edge of a glacier", placing emphasis on what is happening in the world day by day (Perez). With each day, animals continue to starve and nothing is done except the glaciers keep moving due to global warming. As humans and animals, we are destroying our planet, yet doing nothing to fix it. 

    The whole issue with the environment is shown tremendously through St. Augustine. In our town, every time it rains, the town is underwater. Due to living in a historical area, each street is different and has a different layout creating creases for water to reside. When Henry Flagler came to town, he had huge ideas of building state-of-the-art hotels. For him to do so, he had to create more dry land which lead to the Maria Sanchez Creek being gone. During the removal of the creek, it was filled with sand from the Bradford property. Today, we know the hotels as Flagler College and the Lightner Museum. The hotels are basically built on a "swamp". Eventually, the town placed a dam to control the floods which created Lake Maria Sanchez. Henry Flagler had destroyed a living marsh to place something more 'useful' for individuals. His buildings did not help the Earth, instead, he added partially to the cause of global warming and the wrongdoing of the environment. 

Creative Component 

medium: computer paper and colored pencils

    I chose to draw a piece of stained glass with poppy flowers in it. This type of flower means a lot to me because it, first of all, represents my birth month but also stands for my grandfather. I used to call him poppy and he, unfortunately, passed away in 2012. I figured it would be best to create an image inside that means something to me rather than something random. 

Tolomato Cemetery

 St. Augustine, Florida 

Thursday, February 24, 2022

    Tolomato Cemetery (Catholic cemetery) located on Cordova Street, right off Orange Street, was an in-use cemetery from the eighteenth century until 1884. This place is the resting place of 1,000 Augustinians, including many others of importance to the history of Florida.  There are many legends and tales, which also reveal real stories of real people, among being haunted. Burials here "include those of people from Spain, Cuba, Ireland, Minorca, Italy, Greece, Africa, Haiti, France, and the American South and Northeast - as well as the graves of soldiers from both sides of the Civil War, . . ." The Cathedral parish and the Diocese of St. Augustine still own, maintain and protect the cemetery. 

http://www.tolomatocemetery.com/history.html

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    Juan Francisco Ruiz Del Canto was a Revolutionary War Patriot born December 13, 1730, in St. Augustine Florida. He acted as a Spanish agent sent to the Yuchi Indians in 1779 and 1780 to British Florida to secure their support for Governor Bernardo de Galvez. He later captured a British Captain and took him to Cuba for questioning, providing intelligence that aided the Spanish in the planning of the successful Seige of Pensacola by General Bernardo de Galvez. Juan was also responsible for the supervision of the Castillo de San Marcos, and when the Spanish left St. Augustine in 1763, he was appointed by the Governor as one of the groups of three Spanish citizens who oversaw the mapping, sale, and settlement of Spanish properties with the incoming British. 

Artifact Photo 2

    Bishop Augustin Verot was born May 1805 in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, and died June 1876 in St. Augustine, Florida. He was a French-American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Savannah and the first bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine. He studied at St-Sulpice, Paris, was ordained priest, and joined the Society of Saint-Sulpice, and in 1830 came to Baltimore to teach science, philosophy, and theology at St. Mary's College. He served as pastor of Saint Paul Catholic Church in Maryland. In 1857, he was declared bishop in the Baltimore Cathedral. Verot sailed for France in 1859 after returning to his home country for the first time in nearly three decades. Augustin Verot was also Vicar Apostolic of Florida and the third Bishop of Savannah. He had a prominent role in the Civil War which lead to him becoming the first Bishop of St. Augustine in 1870. 

Image in Conversation #1

https://nylandmarks.org/what-we-do/success-story/prospect-cemetery-and-chapel-of-the-sisters/ 

    The cemetery presented above is Prospect Cemetery located in the Jamaica section of the New York City borough of the Queens. It was established in 1668 and is generally known as the Presbyterian burial ground and is one of the few remaining Colonial cemeteries in Queens. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated the cemetery as the oldest cemetery in New York. The cemetery includes approximately 240 family plots containing 2,100 burials and dates from the founding of the cemetery to the late 20th century. Two researchers from the Rufus King Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution discovered the names of 54 individuals who served as soldiers during the Revolutionary War, who were buried in this cemetery. After the 1980s and before, plans were made by individuals to properly maintain and preserve Prospect Cemetery. 

    Visiting Tolomato Cemetery made me think of other cemeteries near my hometown which brought up the idea of New York City into my mind. Walking around St. Augustine and seeing the graves of soldiers, I knew there would be some buried in New York as well. Both of the cemeteries are extremely old, but still being preserved today. 

Image in Conversation #2

    

https://wtop.com/arlington/2020/10/jfks-gravesite-at-arlington-national-cemetery-to-reopen-oct-3/

    Pictured above is the burial site for former President John F. Kennedy. He was born May 29, 1917, and passed away November 22, 1963. He was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination near the end of his third year in office. He served at the height of the Cold War. Kennedy had also served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He also presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the moon before 1970. 

    This cemetery reminded me of who I remembered who left an imprint on the United States and the first person who came to mind was John F. Kennedy because he was one of the Presidents that I learned most about. His death also came as a shock because he was assassinated as most of us know. His burial site is very different than those in Tolomato Cemetery which is why I also was drawn to the differences in the way the places look. 

Literature in Conversation

    In the excerpt from Lukao, [you] had said "I was talking to my dad, who passed away when I was eleven. I felt like I was in a different space, here but not here. I kept thinking about people who I had lost, and I felt them around me," (Perez). This quote resonates with this site visit because we had the experience of visiting a cemetery. At the point where it references the people lost and feeling them around is how I feel when I lose someone I love. When someone dies, their spirit and energy are still surrounding you and allow you to feel in touch with them even though they aren't physically here. They are present within your mind and your heart which is all that matters. 

Creative Component 

medium: computer paper and colored pencils

The Oldest House Complex

 St. Augustine, Florida 

Thursday, February 17, 2022

    The Oldest House Complex is quite special seeing that it is the oldest surviving Spanish Colonial house in Florida. It is located across from the National Guard at 14 St. Francis Street. It is operated by the St. Augustine Historical Society and includes a guided tour, a detailed history museum, gardens, a rotating exhibit gallery, a surf museum, and the Marineland history exhibit. On the bottom level of the Tovar House, lies the surf museum which tells the story of the surf community, tracing the legacy of riding waved throughout the years. The complex is open to the public to learn about specific aspects of St. Augustine. 

https://staughs.com/oldest-house-museum-complex/

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Exterior Photo 2

Artifact Photo 1

    The first map of the North American Coast was created by Henry Wellge. He was a lithographer in the United States which means he applies inks, gels, or photographic emulsions to a plate to create a final piece. He had an office situated in Wisconsin which is where he produced his panoramic maps. In this map, he had constructed, he shared a bird's eye view of St. Augustine including multiple sights such as churches, shops, and restaurants. 

Artifact Photo 2

    Located only eight miles south of St. Augustine's historic district, Butler Beach is tucked between St. Augustine Beach and Crescent Beach. In the early 1900s, Frank B. Butler, a young black man, moved to St. Augustine. He had settled in Lincolnville, the dominant African-American area. At the time of 1927, Butler had become so annoyed by the injustice faced that beaches were "white only". He decided to begin purchasing oceanfront property on Anastasia Island and eventually acquired a region that stretched from the Atlantic to the Matanzas River. This region became known as Butler Beach and was opened to African-Americans so that they were allowed to enjoy the sand and the sea. 

Image in Conversation #1 

https://visualizingnyc.org/essays/john-bachmanns-new-york/

    The image above is Bachmann's first American bird's-eye view of Union Square, New York, as well as the first full-scale bird's-eye image of the city, made in 1849. John Bachmann was a German-speaking Swiss printmaker who arrived in New York in 1848, having fled the upheavals of revolution in Europe. He had produced a number of low-views in Paris and Switzerland. Bachmann's prints exemplify an American reinterpretation of the bird's-eye view at the moment when American cities, particularly New York, were defining their modern civic identity. This view of New York correlates with the map of St. Augustine because it also portrays special places and is the first made view. 

Image in Conversation #2 

https://www.surfer.com/features/gigi-lucas-is-trying-to-make-the-ocean-a-more-inclusive-space/

    On the right shows Gigi Lucas and her siblings, on the left are their parents. Gigi Lucas is a black woman who is a walking historian about black people and their issues with the ocean. She is the founder and executive director of SurfearNEGRA, a nonprofit that seeks to diversify the sport of surfing. Lucas had grown up on the water although she had not taken surfing lessons until she was in her early 30s. She has said, "I grew up seeing people surf, but I never saw anyone doing it who looked like me" (Shaw). Being a black female, there were multiple barriers that kept her from enjoying certain activities like surfing. 

    This is image ties into my artifact 2 image because Butler Beach was a location primarily for people of color. Lots of black individuals weren't given the chance to pursue certain activities due to their lack of rights. Gigi's main goal was to have diversity among the sport of surfing so she created SurfearNEGRA to have that opportunity. Lucas is making a change in the world one surfer at a time. 

Literature in Conversation

    In Lukao, there were a couple sections that were crossed out but this one stuck out most to me "U.S. Naval orders mandated that the placenta and umbilical cord must be burned because they were considered hazardous waste> . . . " (Perez). The crossing out meant what was getting erased when the U.S. came into the picture. The culture of their family was becoming left out of history and being forgotten. Inequality is presented in the whole Lukao reading because it demonstrates some people being oppressed and not getting the same rights as others. This correlates also with Gigi Lucas and Butler beach with the imbalance of certain races. 

Creative Component

medium: computer paper with colored pencils

        I drew a surfboard because it ties into the surf culture museum. I decided to write the word free in different languages and highlighted the color of the country. For the word 'Free' in English, I wrote it twice to demonstrate that for white individuals the sport is freeing but the other free is crossed out to represent the black community and how certain aspects of life are limited for them. Surfing is a free sport and not everyone was able and is able to enjoy it.