In celebration of National Historic Preservation Month, the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation and the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center will host a series of events to celebrate Lincolnville and its Gullah Geechee history and heritage. With a mission to preserve, promote and perpetuate over 450 years of St. Augustine's African-American history, walking tours, storytelling and musical performances are planned May 21, 22 and 27. Here are the details!

Click here for a flyer with all the details on the events.

Lincolnville History

After the siege of St. Augustine in 1702 by English invaders from Carolina, the Spanish authorities built a wall around the city to protect it from outside attack. When the northernmost wall was added around 1762, it redefined the city, consuming a long narrow peninsula shaped by the Matanzas River and Maria Sanchez Creek. Just outside of the city, on the west side of Maria Sanchez Creek, plantations called Buena Esperanza (Spanish for “Good Hope”) and Yallaha cultivated oranges on a neighboring peninsula shaped by Maria Sanchez Creek and the San Sebastian River.

The emancipation of the area’s enslaved as a result of the Civil War led to considerable change on this low lying peninsula just outside of the walled city. As early as 1866, a small settlement called Africa, or Little Africa, began to develop on the land of the former Yallaha Plantation. Soon, this “Outside the Walls” community of former enslaved West African descendants (also known as Gullah or Geechee) became known as Lincolnville.

By 1886, Henry Flagler, a former partner of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company, had extended his railroad to town, linking St. Augustine with cities along the east coast. Developing ornate hotels and rail operations just north of Lincolnville, Flagler’s investments in the city resulted in continued rapid expansion of Lincolnville. Primarily consisting of wood frame residences, historic churches and maritime related uses, the neighborhood played a central role in the Civil Rights Movement when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a local campaign that contributed to the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Home to the largest concentration of late Victorian era buildings in the city, Lincolnville was documented and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Being within walking district of St. Augustine’s tourism epicenter, Lincolnville is a 140-acre walkable neighborhood now challenged by the negative impacts of gentrification and sea level rise.

Click Here for Lincolnville photo tour

In celebration of National Historic Preservation Month, the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation and the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center will host a series of events to celebrate Lincolnville and its Gullah Geechee history and heritage.

Friday, May 21

6 - 8 p.m.

Lincolnville Museum 102 M. L. King Avenue St. Augustine, FL 32084

An Evening of Storytelling and Song with author Greg Estevez and the Hallelujah Singers

LIVE EVENT Tickets: $50 to attend in-person (limited seating).

VIRTUAL EVENT Tickets: $15 to attend virtually with live-stream ticket (live-stream attendees will receive weblink).

Saturday, May 22

9 - 10 a.m. Walking Tour

10 - noon Lincolnville Open House

Starts at Lincolnville Museum entrance 102 M. L. King Avenue St. Augustine, FL 32084

Walking about in Lincolnville: A tour with one of Lincolnville’s own, Kenneth McClain

Tickets: $25 includes Lincolnville Museum

Thursday, May 27

5:30 - 6:30 - Reception (ticketed, see below)

Lincolnville Museum 102 M. L. King Avenue St. Augustine, FL 32084

7 - 8 p.m. - Lecture with Dr. Michael Francis

St. Augustine Art Association 22 Marine Street St. Augustine, FL 32084

An Evening with Dr. J. Michael Francis: Free and Enslaved: Black Society in Spanish Florida, 1513-1821

VIRTUAL Tickets: $10 to attend virtually with live-stream ticket (guests with live-stream ticket will receive weblink)

LIVE EVENT Tickets: $25 to attend in-person (limited seating)

LIVE EVENT & RECEPTION: $50 ticket includes pre-event reception and lecture (limited seating)

Click here for a flyer with all the details on the events.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com