St. Augustine, Florida's Colonial Capital

St. Augustine isn't merely old. It is the threshold where empires collided and the American story began its long, bloody, fascinating unfold. Van Campen excavates the founding in 1565 by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, tracing the city's evolution through centuries of colonial rule, Indian relations, military fortifications, and the slow burn toward American possession. This is not a dry chronicle but a textured account of a place that served as Spanish Florida's administrative heart, endured British occupation during the Revolutionary War, and emerged as a living museum of colonial ambition. The book illuminates what makes St. Augustine singular: it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States, a fact that carries weight beyond tourism into questions of memory, heritage, and who gets to claim the past. Van Campen writes for readers who understand that cities, like people, are palimpsests, layered with the voices of those who built, defended, and inhabited them.