1.
Bridge of Lions
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The Bridge of Lions is a double-leaf bascule bridge that spans the Intracoastal Waterway in St. Augustine, Florida, United States. A part of State Road A1A, it connects downtown St. Augustine to Anastasia Island, a pair of copies of the Medici lions made of marble guard the bridge, begun in 1925 and completed in 1927 across Matanzas Bay. The lions were removed in February 2005 and returned in March 2011, roads & Bridges magazine named the Bridge of Lions as fourth in the nation’s top 10 bridges for 2010. Projects were evaluated based on size, community impact and challenges resolved, the United States Department of Transportation declared the bridge structurally deficient and functionally obsolete in 1999, prompting heated debates on what to do with the structure. A restoration plan was approved, but opponents continued to voice their opposition, reynolds, Smith & Hills from nearby Jacksonville was awarded the engineering and design contract, estimated at $77 million, and projected to require five years to complete. Prior to the Bridge of Lions in 1925, there was a bridge, called simply. It was built in 1895, and after a renovation in 1904. The span contained no rise, and had an opening for ship traffic. The old bridge frequently broke down, leading to calls for its replacement over the years, the man considered the Father of the Bridge of Lions was Henry Rodenbaugh, the vice president and bridge expert for Henry Flaglers Florida East Coast Railway. Its construction came at the height of the extravagant Florida land boom of the 1920s, and it was designed not merely to carry cars, but to be a work of art, and it cost ten times as much as more prosaic bridges constructed nearby at the same time. It was completed after the land boom busted, and the 1927 dedication ceremony had to be paired with the annual Ponce de Leon Celebration in cash-strapped St. Augustine, the Bridge of Lions was later featured on the cover of the Trusts 1999 engagement calendar. From its earliest days, it was hailed as The Most Beautiful Bridge in Dixie and it has long been a symbol of the nations oldest city. It gets its name from two Carrara marble Medici lions statues that are copies of those found in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy. The statues were a gift of Dr. Andrew Anderson, the builder of the Markland House, the statues were his last gift, and he did not live long enough to see them installed. He had them made by the Romanelli Studios in Florence, Italy, the Medici lions are also known for the copies placed in the Throne Room of the Royal Palace of Madrid. After nearly 80 years of service, a closing ceremony for the original Bridge of Lions was held on May 26,2006. Isabella Heard, one of the girls on the lead float in the opening of the bridge in 1927, was there, in a wheelchair. Several components of the bridge were either rehabilitated or returned to the rehabilitated bridge
2.
St. Johns County, Florida
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St. Johns County is a county of the U. S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 190,039. The county seat and largest incorporated city is St. Augustine, the county was established in 1821. It was named for the St. Johns River, which runs along its western border, St. Johns County is included in the Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is made up of residential bedroom communities. Tourism, primarily associated with St. Augustine and the golf courses in the area, is the chief economic industry. St. Johns County’s history begins in 1821, when Colonel Robert Butler received Spanish East Florida from Captain-General Colonel José M. Coppinger, the name Saint Johns was derived from the Spanish mission San Juan del Puerto or Saint John of the Harbor. The apostrophe was dropped in 1932 by the U. S. Department of the Interior because an apostrophe implied ownership. It was a county, encompassing most of peninsular Florida, or more than 39,000 square miles. Much of the land was uninhabited, Saint Augustine was the oldest permanent European settlement, and there were Native Americans in the county as well. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 822 square miles. The population density was 202 people per square mile, there were 58,008 housing units at an average density of 95 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 90. 92% White,6. 29% African American,0. 26% American Indian,0. 95% Asian,0. 05% Pacific Islander,0. 55% from other races, and 0. 97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2. 63% of the population,24. 30% of all households were made up of individuals and 9. 40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the family size was 2.90. The age of the population was out with 23. 10% under the age of 18,7. 00% from 18 to 24,27. 60% from 25 to 44,26. 40% from 45 to 64. The median age was 41 years, for every 100 females there were 94.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.50 males, the median income for a household in the county was $50,099, and the median income for a family was $59,153
3.
Flagler County, Florida
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Flagler County is a county on the east coast of the U. S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 95,696, created in 1917 from portions of Saint Johns and Volusia Counties, it was named for Henry Morrison Flagler, who built the Florida East Coast Railway. Flagler County is included in the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL metropolitan statistical area, in 1974, Marco Polo Park, a theme park off Interstate 95 opened. It was never profitable and closed soon after, in 1998, when two brush fires threatened to become one huge brush fire in Flagler County, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for the entire county. This was the first and so far the only time a county was evacuated in Florida. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 571 square miles. The population density was 103 people per square mile, there were 24,452 housing units at an average density of 50 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 87. 27% White,8. 83% Black or African American,0. 27% Native American,1. 17% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,0. 96% from other races, and 1. 47% from two or more races. 5. 09% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,90. 1% spoke English,5. 0% Spanish and 1. 2% German as their first language. 1. 8% of the population identified themselves as being of non-Hispanic West Indian Ancestry,21. 60% of all households were made up of individuals and 12. 00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the family size was 2.67. In the county, the population was out with 17. 90% under the age of 18,4. 80% from 18 to 24,20. 30% from 25 to 44,28. 30% from 45 to 64. The median age was 50 years, for every 100 females there were 92.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.90 males, the median income for a household in the county was $40,214, and the median income for a family was $45,625. Males had an income of $31,184 versus $24,865 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,879, about 6. 70% of families and 8. 70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15. 70% of those under age 18 and 4. 40% of those age 65 or over. Flagler county was ranked the county in the nation by the US Census Bureau from 2000 to 2005, boasting a 53. 3% change. Flagler County Airport Interstate 95 U. S.1 SR A1A SR11 SR20 SR100 The Florida East Coast Railway provides rail services in the county
4.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
5.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
6.
Estuary
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An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a zone between river environments and maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea began to rise about 10. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, the banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the worlds population living along estuaries and the coast. The word estuary is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, there have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary. However, this definition excludes a number of water bodies such as coastal lagoons. This broad definition also includes fjords, lagoons, river mouths, an estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides. The sea water entering the estuary is diluted by the water flowing from rivers. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of water, the tidal range. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border, the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is typically large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths rarely exceed 30 m, examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. They are relatively common in tropical and subtropical locations and these estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches partially encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters, bar-built estuaries typically develop on gently sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts. They are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments, barrier beaches form in shallow water and are generally parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries
7.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
8.
Anastasia Island
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Anastasia Island is a barrier island located off the northeast Atlantic coast of Florida in the United States. It sits east of St. Augustine, running north-south in a southeastern direction to Matanzas Inlet. The island is about 14 miles long and an average of 1 mile in width and it is separated from the mainland by the Matanzas River, part of the Intracoastal waterway. Matanzas Bay, the body of water between the island and downtown St. Augustine, opens into St. Augustine Inlet. Part of the island is within St. Augustine city limits, while communities on the island include St. Augustine Beach, Coquina Gables, Butler Beach, Crescent Beach. Augustine from attack via the Matanzas River, juan Ponce de León may have landed on the barrier island in 1513. Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, founder of St. Augustine and this settlement was short-lived, and the colonists moved back to the mainland at the site of present-day downtown St. Augustine. The Spanish built a wooden watch-tower on the end of Anastasia Island to warn the town of approaching vessels by raising signal flags. It was sighted by Sir Francis Drake in 1586, consequently he came ashore, the Spanish eventually replaced the tower with a coquina structure that was converted into a lighthouse soon after Florida came into the possession of the United States in 1821. This was replaced by the present-day St. Augustine Light in 1874, the original lighthouse collapsed in 1880 due to beach erosion and the encroachment of the sea. The earliest built residence on Anastasia Island still standing is the keepers house built in 1876 next to the present lighthouse. Several other houses in the Lighthouse Park neighborhood date to the 1880s, the island was part of a 10,000 acre land grant from the Spanish crown to the land dealer Jesse Fish, who established a plantation, El Vergel, and built his home there in 1763. Fish planted orange groves on the property which produced fruit known as far away as London for its juiciness and sweetness and his production increased annually until 1776, when he shipped a total of 65,000 oranges from Florida. In 1792, Jesse Fishs son, Jesse Fish, Jr. purchased the tract, amounting to the whole of St. Anastasia island except certain lands marked off by officials as reserved, such as the Kings Quarry. In 1925–1926 he filled in the salt marshes located directly opposite the center of St. Augustine across the Matanzas River. As the construction bubble collapsed and real estate values plummeted, D. P. Davis mysteriously disappeared at sea on October 12,1926, construction of the Bridge of Lions had begun in 1925 to provide access to his projected development and was completed in 1927. During World War II the Coast Guard occupied the lighthouse, beneath the sandy soil of most of the island lie layers of coquina, a shelly rock in various stages of consolidation. This deposition is known as the Anastasia Formation, and was formed during the Late Pleistocene epoch and it is the only local natural source of stone, and was quarried by the Spanish and later the British to construct many of the buildings in St. Augustine
9.
St. Augustine, Florida
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St. Augustine is a city in the Southeastern United States, on the Atlantic coast in northeastern Florida. It is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement within the borders of the continental United States, the county seat of St. Johns County, it is part of Floridas First Coast region and the Jacksonville metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 12,975, the United States Census Bureaus 2013 estimate of the citys population was 13,679, while the urban area had a population of 69,173 in 2012. Saint Augustine was founded on September 8,1565, by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Floridas first governor. He named the settlement San Agustín, as his ships bearing settlers, troops, and supplies from Spain had first sighted land in Florida eleven days earlier on August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years, since the late 19th century, St. Augustines distinct historical character has made the city a major tourist attraction, and it is also the headquarters for the Florida National Guard. Founded in 1565 by the Spanish conquistador, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, in 1562, a group of Huguenots led by Jean Ribault arrived in Spanish Florida to establish a colony in the territory claimed by Spain. They explored the mouth of the St. Johns River, calling it la Rivière de Mai, then sailed northward, Spain learned of this French expedition through its spies at ports on the Atlantic coast of France. The Huguenot nobleman René de Laudonnière, who had participated in the expedition and he arrived at the mouth of the River May on June 22,1564, sailed up it a few miles, and founded Fort Caroline. He was ordered as well to drive away any intruders who were not subjects of the Spanish crown. On July 28, Menéndez set sail from Cádiz with a led by his 600-ton flagship, the San Pelayo, accompanied by several smaller ships, and carrying over 1,000 sailors, soldiers. On the feast day of St. Augustine, August 28, Menéndez then sailed north and confronted Ribaults fleet outside the bar of the River May in a brief skirmish. On September 6, he returned to the site of his first landfall, naming it after the Catholic saint, disembarked his troops, and quickly constructed fortifications to protect his people and supplies. Menéndez then marched his soldiers overland for an attack on Fort Caroline. Jean Ribault had already put out to sea with his ships for an assault on St. Augustine, there they were confronted by the Spaniard and his men on the opposite side. After several parleys with the Spanish, Jean Ribault and the Frenchmen with him surrendered, almost all of them were executed in the dunes near the inlet, in 1572, the settlement was relocated to the mainland, in the area just south of the future town plaza. Confident that he had fulfilled the conditions of his contract with the King, including the building of forts along the coast of La Florida. After several more transatlantic crossings, Menéndez fell ill and died on September 17,1574, succeeding governors of the province maintained a peaceful coexistence with the local Native Americans, allowing the isolated outpost of St. Augustine some stability for a few years
10.
Matanzas Inlet
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Matanzas Inlet is a channel in Florida between barrier islands connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the south end of the Matanzas River. It is 14 miles south of St. Augustine, in the part of St. Johns County. The inlet is not stabilized by jetties, and thus is subject to shifting, historic maps made by Spanish military engineers in the 18th century show that the inlet today has moved many hundreds of yards south of its location during the time of the Spanish Empire. In 1740, a British invasion force from Fort Frederica, Georgia blockaded this inlet, the southernmost access for boat travel between St. Augustine and Havana, Cuba. Shortly thereafter, in 1742, a stone tower 50 feet square by 30 feet high. René Goulaine de Laudonnière founded Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, in 1564, in response to the French encroachment on what Spain regarded as its territory, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in 1565. Menéndez de Avilés quickly set out to attack Fort Caroline, traveling overland from St. Augustine, at the same time, the French sailed from Fort Caroline, intending to attack St. Augustine from the sea. The Spanish overwhelmed the lightly defended Fort Caroline, sparing only the women and children, the French fleet was driven off course by a storm, and many of the ships wrecked on the coast south of St. Augustine. When the Spanish found the group of the French shipwreck survivors. The location became known as Matanzas
