Archives: Destinations

Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace

Guided Tours

The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace is offering guided tours exploring the fascinating life and world-changing legacy of Juliette Gordon Low, Founder of the Girls Scouts, through stories, art, and artifacts held in her childhood home.

Please allow at least an hour for your visit, so you can fully enjoy the tour, garden, and museum store.

What You’ll Experience

A tour of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace provides an exciting look into the history of our remarkable founder and her home, as well as a glimpse into a movement that is still building girls into strong women of courage, confidence, and character over 100 years later.

During your visit to the Birthplace you will be guided on a journey through the life of Juliette Gordon Low. Original and period furnishings adorn seven spacious rooms with high ceilings. You will see unique architectural features, including elaborately carved millwork, decorative plaster ceilings, and the impressive staircase with its curved mahogany rail. Numerous works of art, including many pieces created by Daisy herself, are on display throughout the house.

You may browse the garden independently before or after your tour. Be sure to look for the monogrammed gates that are believed to be forged in part by Daisy herself.
Before you head back out into beautiful Savannah, you’ll want to visit our shop for great local gifts, items made by girls and women around the world, and Girl Scout merchandise.

Admission to this attraction is subject to availability

Ghost & Gravestones Trolley Tour

Prepare yourself for a Frightseeing Adventure like none other as your resident Ghost Host shares tales both true and truly unnerving of the citys tumultuous past. Discover the secrets of the Tolomoto Cemetery and the apparition seen playing on the sacred grounds after dark. Could it be the spirit of five-year old James or is it the Ghost Bride, still waiting for her walk down the aisle. Be sure to keep a watchful eye while passing by the old City Gates. You might catch a glimpse of Elizabeth, a child victim of the yellow fever, waving to those who pass by. Plan to arrive at least 20 minutes early to make time to visit Cromwells Parlour of Paranormal Curiosities.

Creepy Crawl Haunted Pub Tour

We have teamed up with the original St. Augustine Historic Pub Crawl to bring this unique experience to those of you who prefer a little…spirits with your spirits!

Explore the most notorious haunted taverns on this spine-tingling investigation. This adults only walking tour gives you a chance to try real paranormal equipment at the actual haunted sites we visit, while enjoying drinks and hearing the haunted history along the way.

• A local craft beer at the first stop is INCLUDED with your ticket.
• Pub Crawls last appx 2hrs and explore at least 4 unique venues on each tour.
• Tours depart Friday and Saturday from their downtown tour reception lobby at 4 Granada Street.
• Ages 21+ only. TOURS DEPART RAIN OR SHINE.

Ximenez-Fatio House Museum

Includes admission and with the audio tour

Brief History
In 1798, Don Andres Ximenez built this fine three-story home and warehouse of coquina for he and his bride, Juana Pellicer Ximenez. Juanas father, Francisco Pellicer led the Menorcan exodus of 1777 out of New Smyrna, from their illegal bondage by Dr. Andrew Turnbull. Pellicer brought approximately 600 people to St. Augustine at the invitation of British governor Colonel Patrick Tonyn. Francisco Pellicer was also a master carpenter and may well have been involved in the construction of this home. In his original site plan, Ximenez included a grocery story and storage room, tavern, and billiard hall on the first floor, family bedrooms and living area on the second floor, and servants/enslaved persons living areas on the third floor. There were also two large warehouses that butted up to each other – what we now know as the first floor guest rooms – along with a detached kitchen and washroom.

Juana Ximenez died in 1802, at the age of 26. Andres followed in 1806. He was 53. The Ximenez family passed the property among them until 1825, when Mrs. Margaret Cook and her husband were given the opportunity to purchase an interest in 1/3rd of the house. She bought another 1/3rd interest in 1827, after her husband passed away. By 1830, Mrs. Cook owned the whole compound. She converted the home into a boarding house by turning the tavern into a lobby, the billiard hall into a fine dining room, and the two warehouses into four guest rooms. The grocery store and storeroom remained intact since it was such a profitable business. Mrs. Cook hired Eliza Whitehurst, a single lady, to manage her new boarding house. In June 1838, Mrs. Whitehurst died, most likely due to a Yellow Fever epidemic ravaging St. Augustine.

In July, Sarah Petty Anderson, also a single woman, purchased the boarding house from Mrs. Cook. In 1852, Louisa Fatio, the last of this impressive line of single women to either own or manage the property, became the manager of Miss Andersons boarding house.

In 1855, Miss Anderson sold the property to Louisa and moved to Tallahassee. Miss Fatio owned the property and kept it afloat during times of slavery, secession from the Union, re-occupation by Union troops in 1862, and Reconstruction. She died in 1875, having maintained the integrity, reputation, and prominence of this boarding house through a time when the term boarding house often had a very negative connotation.

The house spent the next several decades as an artists retreat until it fell into disrepair by the 1930s – yet the downstairs/grocery store and storeroom always housed some form of retail business.

In 1939, The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Florida purchased the property, and in the process of refurbishing the home, presented it for the first time to the public on May 6, 1940, as an example of historic home restoration. Please visit this amazing property at your first convenience. In the meantime, we have built this extensive website for you to virtually step onto our property, play our games, hear our stories, and read of our history.

Sunset Boat BYOB Boat Cruise

Bring your own beverages, kick back, and relax with a cold one (optional of course) and see beautiful St. Augustine from the water! As the shadows get long and the sun sets behind the skyline, you will feel the stresses of the week slipping away and will find yourself right at home on the spacious deck of the Pellicano.

We hope you understand that our sunset cruise is best enjoyed by grown-ups. Adults only please.

Dolphin Odyssey & Sightseeing Boat Tour

Cruising up alongside a pod of Atlantic Bottle Nose Dolphin that choose to make St Augustine their home, even makes the crew giddy and they do it every day!

There is something exciting, yet very calming, about watching these beautiful creatures glide through the water, in perfect formation, in groups of anywhere from two to ten. Often we see mommas, with their babies following alongside, so close you would think they are attached.

If we find them just right, when they are feeding, we might catch a glimpse of one 6-8 feet in the air, often with a fish in their mouth! They are in the wild, however, so finding them is not guaranteed (96% success), but seeing great sights and hearing great stories is!
Tour Duration: 1.5 hours

Hand Rolled Cigar

Stogies Cigar Shop offers over 150 premium cigars from around the world. They also offer a large selection of Pipes and Pipe tobacco, domestic, craft beers, and smoking accessories. Enjoy the beautiful courtyard just outside the shop in the middle of historic downtown St. Augustine.

St. Augustine Aquarium

At the aquarium you will be led by a guided tour with a Marine Biologists that will explain some of the exciting creatures that are native to our waterways. See sharks, stingrays many different species of fish, touch starfish, sea urchins, horseshoe crabs and more!

Pirate & Treasure Museum

The St. Augustine Pirate and Treasure Museum offers an exciting and educational museum experience that transports you and your family back in time over 300 years to Port Royal, Jamaica, at the height of the Golden Age of Piracy. The museum spans about 5,000 sq. ft. with a 1,300 sq. ft. courtyard.

After a successful 5-year run in Key West, Pat Croce moved the Pirate and Treasure Museum to another pirate stronghold: St. Augustine, Florida. Pirates such as Sir Francis Drake and Robert Searles who frequented the nations oldest city and the Spanish fort, the Castillo de San Marcos, played a major role in the history of pirates and Colonial America.

Oldest House Museum Complex

The Oldest House Museum Complex is owned and operated by the St. Augustine Historical Society. Admission to the Oldest House Museum Complex includes a guided tour of Floridas Oldest House, a detailed history museum, ornamental gardens, a rotating exhibit gallery, surf museum, Marineland history exhibit and the museum store.

The Oldest House is open from daily 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tours run every half hour.

St. Augustine Surf Culture Museum
Located in the bottom floor of the Tovar House, the St. Augustine Surf Culture Museum tells the story of the surf community of St. Augustine, tracing the legacy of wave riding in the early twentieth century to the contemporary moment. This interactive museum interprets over seventy local oral histories, hundreds of historical images, hours of surf film, artifacts, memorabilia, articles, and historic surf boards.

Marineland’s Marine Studios Exhibit
The top floor of the Tovar House is home to Marineland’s Marine Studios exhibit which takes a look at the rich history of modern day Marineland and highlights some of the firsts of the world of marine science, film making, tourism, architecture, and animal training.People and Places of St. Augustine
The second floor of the Tovar House is home to this temporary art exhibit which includes locally produced folk-art to internationally known artists. The collection reflects the personages and environment of St. Augustine. Throughout the year, other temporary exhibits may be featured.