Oldest House Museum Complex
Saint Augustine, Florida
February 17, 2022
The Oldest House is Florida’s oldest surviving Spanish Colonial dwelling and a National Historic Landmark. Owned and operated by the St. Augustine Historical Society, the complex includes Florida’s Oldest House, two museums, a changing exhibition gallery, an attractive garden, and a museum store. Built on a site occupied since the early 1600s, the present structure has coquina walls and hand-hewn cedar beams, dating back to the early 1700s. The house is known locally as the González-Alvarez House after its owners during the first and second Spanish occupations. A number of alterations brought the house into its current shape and size which reflects both Spanish and British architectural styles. The house is furnished to represent these different periods.
Official Website: https://staughs.com/oldest-house-museum-complex/
Artifact 1
The photographs above were rescued in late 1988 in the attic of a house on St. Augustine's King Ferry Way. The house was about to be torn down due to damage it had endured, but the demolition crew discovered the glass plate negatives and sold them to a local camera store. Later on, photography curator Ken Barrett Jr. from the Saint Augustine Historical Society learned about the images and purchased them instantly. After the first examination of the dusty box of glass negatives, Barrett discovered that the work belonged to Richard Aloysius Twine from about 60 years prior. In order to rescue the photographs, each glass plate was washed in a mixture of ammonia and water in order to remove the grime and dust. Damage could not be completed undone due to fire damage, but 103 plates responded to the careful cleaning process. Barrett then proceeded to print the plates which took hours of trial and error in the darkroom. Some plates needed to be printed three to four times in order to see valuable results.
Artifact 2
Above is a chart showing the Intracoastal Waterway from Nassau Sound to Matanzas Inlet. The Waterway project gained momentum in the early 1800s in an effort to connect Florida's countless creeks, rivers, lakes, and sounds along with the Atlantic Coast. This finally allowed for a continuous waterway. The Waterway was completed in 1935, and today, the entirety of the waterway extends 1400 miles from Trenton, New Jersey to Miami. Approximately 300,000 vessels pass through it each year.
Exterior 1
Exterior 2
In Conversation Image 1
This historic image bears a resemblance to the images taken by Richard Aloysius Twine. Twine photographed the black community of early Saint Augustine in order to give these underrepresented people a voice in history. This image similarly shows how blacks were underrepresented through the composition of the photo. The black soldier is placed lower in the frame than his white counterpart, symbolizing that he was of lower status than the other soldier. The positioning of the African American soldier is also more slouched and casual, depicting him as less sophisticated, while the soldier to his left sits up straight. This vertical line displayed by the white soldier symbolizes power and strength, suggesting that he is more powerful than the slouched black soldier. The photographs taken by Twine shed the black community in a more realistic light that recognized them for their strength and equality while holding a similar portrait photography style. Although the meaning behind the two images is vastly different, the composition and subjects of the two are similar.
In Conversation Image 2
Pictured above is the Roman Colosseum in Italy. This oval amphitheater was constructed sometime between 70 and 72 AD, opening in 80 AD. As with other amphitheaters, the Colosseum was intended to be an entertainment venue, hosting gladiator fights, animal hunts, and mock naval battles. The structure was built with the arches as pictured above for structure as well as appearance. Both the Colosseum and the Oldest House Museum Complex have arches present, which made me visually draw a connection between the two structures. Arches are shown at the Oldest House Complex in Artifact 2. In history and throughout many cultures alike, arches have symbolized victory, new beginnings, and access to holy places. In both locations, these arches have intention and meaning, dating back to their original architecture.
In Conversation Passage ENG 202
The poem "Love in a Time of Climate Change", is Craig Santos Perez's recycling of Pablo Neruda's "Love Sonnet: XVII". The poem tackles the idea of preservation in a compelling and conservatory way, as the author explains that he loves in a vulnerable way. The poem discusses the contemporary issue of climate change and how humans interact with natural elements that are seen as valuable or invaluable. Perez uses natural diction and imagery to describe that preservation does not mean saving every aspect of a thing, but rather it is saving what is important to continue the legacy. By conserving the core and roots of our earth, love, and history, we as humans are able to assign new meanings to the element in order to make it useful in an ever-changing society. This poem connects to the idea of preservation which is seen at the Oldest House Museum Complex. The complex takes the historic elements of the oldest house in Saint Augustine while adding new elements to tell a greater story that can have a legacy today. One way the complex shows this type of preservation is with the addition of the Surf Culture Museum. By adding this exhibit, we are able to view Saint Augustine in a more nuanced and contemporary manner and see how the newer act of surfing has shaped the town. Similarly, the Historical Society has made changes to the Oldest House in order to reflect both the Spanish and British architectural styles that the structure encountered over the years. By changing the structure and shape of the house, society is able to follow the story of the building and see how its legacy affects different people and cultures.
Creative Component
This map of the Oldest House Museum Complex was drawn with colored pencils and pens. I thought that it would be appropriate to draw a map given that a prominent exhibit in the complex was dedicated to historic maps of Saint Augustine. I have never drawn a map before, so it was a trial and error process and also a learning experience about the layout of the streets of the city.
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