Fountain of Youth Archeological Site

Yep, it's true! The Fountain of Youth has been found! Heather and I had a sip of the restorative waters today and are looking forward to waking up as young kids tomorrow.

We also got to see them shoot the cannon. Even though they only used 2 ounces of gun powder, it made a very loud boom. When they used the cannon back in the early 1500s, they used a pound and a half of gun powder.

But even more interesting was where they got this particular cannon. It was made by Disney for the original Pirates of the Caribbean, then was purchased by a park somewhere else in Florida. That park never used it, so they sold the cannon to the reenactment group here in St Augustine. They used it exactly once in a parade through old town St Augustine. During the parade, they charged it with 4 ounces of gun powder and set it off. Due to the multitude of broken windows, they never got to use the cannon in another parade. So they moved it to the Fountain site, where they get to fire it every hour all day long for the tourists. The gentleman who fired the cannon was also full of wonderfully gruesome stories of slaughter from the Spanish era.

Another appropriately costumed fellow demonstrated a period crossbow. These were apparently an important weapon for this early settlement due to the need for the founder to self-finance. Crossbows were already getting obsolete due to the new invention of GUNS so he got a bunch at bargain basement prices. Our demonstrator allowed as the weapon was making a comeback, and anyone who has been watching the Walking Dead knows why.

Oh, this site is also the site of the first Spanish, hence European, settlement in the Americas.Read more