Spanish explorer and treasure hunter Don Juan Ponce de Leon discovered St. Augustine on Easter in 1513 and named it La Florida ("Land of Flowers"). It took the French, however, to establish a successful settlement. As this threatened Spain's treasure fleets sailing along Florida's shoreline, King Phillip II send his most experienced admiral to drive out any settlers of other nations. The Spanish destroyed the French garrison on the St. Johns River and defeated the French fleet, aided by a hurricane. The Spanish then renamed the Timucuan Indian village of Seloy, and St. Augustine was officially born.

It was an uneasy settlement: Because of British assaults on the colony and its new settlements in Georgia and the Carolinas, Spain order a stone fort built for protection. The Castillo de San Marcos was 23 years in construction, but it successfully prevented the fort from falling. The British eventually gained control of Florida, and except for a 37-year period after the Revolutionary War, has been "American" since the US was founded.

Not only is St. Augustine the oldest city in the US, it is also the site of the first winery in the country. French Huguenots in the mid 1500s discovered the abundantly wild muscadine grapes growing nearby and used them to produce the first known wines in the New World.

Tourism in St. Augustine dates back to the Civil War period, when the town was already three centuries old, but it was the arrival of Henry Flagler and his railroad that made the town a major resort for the leisure traveler. Golf quickly became popular, along with yacht racing. Flagler changed St. Augustine's appearance, but fires destroyed much of its heritage. Today the city works diligently to preserve and restore its many colonial structures.