“He landed, he left,” Deagan says with a matter-of-fact smile, the location lost to time. Still, as Florida celebrates 500 years, and St. Augustine gets ready to celebrate its 450th birthday in 2015, Deagan says there is value in marking the dates. Like a n the English Colonial world, there is family getting ready for a wedding at home, Florida and St. Augustine are sprucing up. The little material evidence of intermingling anniversaries also pique the interest of state and federal agencies in telling Florida’s story, a story with Native Americans or Africans; in older than those of Jamestown and Plymouth the Spanish Colonial world virtually and one that leverages money for research and preservation. every household shows the influence UF has pitched in with gusto. UF already had historic preservation and museum studies programs, of Native Americans and Africans , and students in archaeology, anthropology and history have made the city 90 minutes east of Gainesville a an early sign of what Deagan calls popular research destination for decades. But in an unusual move, the Florida Legislature in 2007 asked UF America’s “ethnic stew.” to take on the responsibility for maintaining and operating the 38 state-owned historic structures in St. Augustine, most notably the iconic Government House, a former post office and customs house that in some form has been the centerpiece of the town plaza for centuries. The legislature allocated funds in 2010, and UF found itself in the heritage tourism and preservation business in St. Augustine. Just three years later, all the buildings — some with rotten wood, droopy balconies and leaky roofs — have been stabilized. A new museum exhibit just opened in Government House and the university has entered into another groundbreaking agreement: a public-private partnership for a living history attraction.
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30 Winter 2013