The Lincolnville Tour

St. Augustine historian David Nolan's tour is a fascinating look at a section of St. Augustine most people have never explored. Traditionally the black section of the city, Lincolnville is an area with as much history as any other part of St. Augustine. Nolan has always been fascinated with it. His interest in the area dates back to when he conducted a survey of historical properties in the city and was told to skip Lincolnville because it "lacked history." He was determined to prove otherwise. Nolan created the Red Train Tour of Lincolnville as a spin-off from the Lincolnville Festival. For more than ten years now he has been giving his signature hour-long tours.

Once Indian villages and orange grove plantations, Lincolnville became a settlement of emancipated slaves in 1866. Despite modest beginnings, it developed into a rich and thriving community with its own schools, shops, and social clubs. Over the years, the businesses moved away; the schools closed; and many of the houses fell into disarray. Yet the community, along with its history, lives on. Along Bridge Street there are houses where Martin Luther King Jr. stayed on a tumultuous visit during the civil rights period of the 1960s. The last known surviving slave cabin can be found on Blanco Street, with a plaque noting its importance. There is a vacant lot today where 1920s photographer Richard Twine once lived on Kings Ferry Way. Twine, relatively unknown until his negatives were rediscovered in the late 1980s, was recently included in a book chronicling America's black photographers called Reflections in Black. Lincolnville is also the section of town with the highest concentration of Victorian-era buildings in the city. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Nolan believes the tour is important in a number of ways. For one, it allows people to see a side of the city they probably have not ventured into and know even less about. But also, as the city sees renewed development interest, it highlights the need to preserve and recognize the historical importance of events and places throughout St. Augustine. Lincolnville has been a community since the days of slavery and continues to push on through good times and bad.

St. Augustine’s collection of African-American historic sites is largely unmarked, but who should do the marking is open for debate. The city of St. Augustine tests and licenses tour guides and tour operators. The test is two years old. It is a revision of previous tests for the past 20 years. David Nolan believes the test is incomplete because it leaves out St. Augustine’s African-American history. For example, there is no mention of Fort Mose, the first free black settlement in what is now the United States, or of the Rev. Martin Luther King's demonstrations and arrest for the civil rights cause in 1964. The test covers the time period from the city’s 1565 founding through the recent restoration of the Casa Monica Hotel. The lack of markings for African-American sites is a question of who decides which sites are historic. Before markers can be placed, a criterion has to be established. Deciding which sites is the first step to getting more information into the tour guide handbook and test.

The city supports promoting African-American sites including the planned National African-American Archives and Museum, Fort Mose, and the designation of Lincolnville on the National Register of Historic Places. Nolan has worked on developing the city’s African-American history for more than 20 years. He has not lost sight of his main goal: to mark sites so the community will know its African-American history just as well as it knows its general history. He has already been the mentor for one marker project.

Nolan mixes dates, data, and wit expertly. His tour narrates the historical and architectural highlights of Lincolnville. He is so familiar with the material that he uses no notes. There is no transcription of his tour in existence. And, generally, there are no empty seats. Most attribute this chiefly to Nolan's immense familiarity with, and affection for, the neighborhood. Nolan is a trustee of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society and the Fort Mose Historical Society. He is the author of Fifty Feet in Paradise: The Booming of Florida, which tells the story of the booms and busts in Florida history. He also collaborated with Ken Barrett and Jean Ellen Fitzpatrick to produce The Houses of St. Augustine, a book that examines many buildings in the city. David Nolan is "The Voice of Lincolnville."

For more information call 904.829.6545 or 800.226.6545.