Colonial Quarter

This place is great. Love this city. Check out some photos –along the way. Highly recommend on a nice day like today.

I really enjoy historical places and the information i learn there. I found this place was really great, some of the trades were not out working while I was there, which is disappointing but it was a great stop anyways.

Cheap and a good history lesson. The guide was awesome! Very enthusiastic and informative, he had excellent knowledge of the history in St. Augustine. Recommend.

Absolutely amazing how well kept this historical place is. It really makes you feel like you’re back in that time period. I love seeing staff dressed up. Making the experience more realistic.

I grew up in Saint Augustine and we went on field trips all the time to downtown places like this. We went on vacation here last week and I wanted to take the family here expecting the same type of experience as what I had as a child — seeing a blacksmith hammering out metal objects, glass blowing, and other trades & crafts.
We went here on a Wednesday, however they still sold enough tickets to not have anywhere near enough seats for the first two areas («centuries»). I thought it was pretty lame that I could not sit down with my family unless I raced ahead of everyone else to the next area.
We just had one guide who also doubled as the expert & entertainment at each of the century areas. What I expected was there to be one guide and then a person waiting for us at each area with something ready to show us: e.g. hamming red hot metal, etc.
Overall, I though the tour was pretty weak and the park is pretty small with very little hands-​on demonstration.
If you want the real deal, I would recommend Fountain of Youth Park. This is where we went when I was in elementary school.
I guess you get what you pay for.

I just visited the gift shop here, but it was the best gift shop we stopped at. I ended up picking up all of my souvenirs at this one spot. There were a lot of unique items as well as the more typical stuff. The prices were really good too.
The cashier wasn’t particularly friendly, but she rang up our purchases efficiently enough. Also, I didn’t try it, but use caution with the taffy samples. The kids in our group were all excited about free candy but by all accounts it tasted horrible.

Yes another vote for Grimm — he brought the place to life with his detailed explanations and also added modern humor into the mix — at some other historical recreations the staff get too into the character — Grimm was the perfect mix you could tell enjoyed the subject matter — if I could give five stars to him I would (yes that good!)
the «quarter» itself was presented in a neat and interesting manner — it definitely added to the visit to this town

Best tour in St. Augustine ! So glad we took it. I have to give credit to Grimm, our tour guide, he was GREAT! I wish I could have hired him to give us tours of the rest of the city (he was that good!) our other tour guides for the other places… eh.
So this is great if you love history and even if you don’t and just want to experience a good tour in St. Augustine in the historic district this is the one to choose!

The Colonial Quarter is a stop on St. George Street that is a must-​see for history buffs. You can choose to either do a self-​guided tour, or take advantage of learning historical facts with a tour guide. I highly recommend choosing to go with the tour guide, as they are all very knowledgeable and will explain and describe everything you see, including a live demonstration on how to fire a musket. Tours last about an hour. Our tour guide, Jake, who was dressed in period garb, was great at explaining and teaching things and was very enthusiastic, you could tell he loved his job.
The Colonial Quarter is divided, as its name suggests, into four quadrants: 16^th century, 17^th century, 18^th century, and Flags over St. Augustine. The highlight of the 16^th century is their boatwright ship building project, which allows you to see a handcrafted 50-​foot caravel rising one story into the sky. A caravel was used by the Spanish in the 16^th century, so it makes sense to find the skeleton of one in the 16^th century quadrant.
The 17^th century contains a Spanish watchtower standing at 35 feet. You are able to climb to the top and see the Castillo de San Marcos and St. Augustine’s bayfront and the historic city’s landmarks. It gives you an idea of what the Spanish soldiers looking out would have seen and felt! In addition, there is a demonstration of the muskets, how they are locked, loaded and fired, while being given a history lesson and learning about gunpowder. You can also see a Blacksmith’s forge and how he would have used this tools.
The 18^th century was probably my favorite part, as it was so informative and packing so many different things. There is an 18^th century home to see, which is rebuilt on its original foundations in 1964. It shows how people lived back then. The leatherworker’s shop has tools and hides and represents the home of Lorenzo Gomez, a man that lived here with his family hundreds of years ago. One of my favorite sights was the De Mesa-​Sanchez home. It is a restored home built in the 1740s and only had one room. It was first owned by Antonio de Mesa, a Royal Treasury shore guard, and expanded over the years until the early 19^th century. You can see the bedroom, the bathroom, and other rooms of the home. In addition, there is the East Florida Gazette Print Shoppe, which shows a 1770s printing press recreated from Colonial Williamsburg blueprints and replica press copies of the day.
The last quadrant, the Flags Over St. Augustine boardwalk, has you walking under 11 of the very flags that have flown over this Ancient City for over 450 years, including the flag that likely flew on the mast of Juan Ponce de Leon’s ship as he explored Florida’s northeast coast to today’s 50-​star Stars & Stripes. Scholars think the flag that flew on the mast was the Spanish Empire’s banner with the red lions of the Kingdom of Leon, quartered with the gold castles of the Kingdom of Castile.
Go ahead and make this one of your stops if you’re visiting St. Augustine. After purchasing your tickets, you will get a discount (10%, I believe) at the Bull & Crown Publick House, which provides a casual pub atmosphere while being in the shadow of the 270 year old DeMesa House, or the Taberna del Caballo, an 18^th century-​styled taberna that serves tapas and sangria if you feel hungry after the tour. It is a good idea to do the tour and once you start building an appetite, make a stop at one of these spots for a great, relaxing lunch.

Purchased the Explorer’s Passport which included this colonial history museum as part of the package. I’m glad we made this choice, since we had an enthusiastic tour guide, Jake, who made the history of that period come alive. Enjoyed the blacksmithing and musket demonstrations and descriptions of life in earlier times.

It was interesting, but the walking tour was very short. Informative, but only about 10 – 15 minutes. Also, the demonstrations are all about an hour apart, which is too far apart. Staff were friendly and knowledgeable. If you are looking for a little history and something to do it would be worth it, but I would not go out of my way. The musket demo was interesting and the guide was very knowledgeable.

Small, but definitely enjoyable. We went at the end of the day when no one else was around. Gives you a nice sense of history for St. Augustine and the surrounding area. We spent some time talking to the shipwright who is building a replica of a Spanish galleon (full-​sized). Take a look at their web site as they are putting a time-​lapsed series so you can see the construction from the keel to the ribs to the full ship. Definitely worth the price of admission (and we heartily encourage buying a combo ticket to the pirate museum next door — yes, it sounds hokey but it is not).

This place got bought out and MAJORLY updated this year. Great living history museum to visit. You’ll find people making boats, firing muskets, working as a blacksmith, … etc. just like they did in the 15^th — 18^th centuries. Been going here each year for the past 8 years and it’s better than ever now!