Dow Historic Houses, St. Augustine

It rained last night and we woke to gray skies. Florida is having a lot of fires so rain was good but we didn't want to stay inside on our last day in the sunshine state. By the time we got in the car the clouds were thinning so we decided to do more sightseeing in old St. Augustine. One of the areas that we passed on our electric car tour of the city was the Dow Museum of Historic Houses. It is made up of nine historic homes, dating from 1790 to 1910, which are all located within a single city block. Some of the homes could be toured and displayed items from Kenneth Worcester Dow's collections. The property highlights both St. Augustine and Florida history. The grounds were a rambling collection of old gardens, courtyards and porches. There was a general store from 1899, a Spanish style pink stucco house from 1790 and a couple of formal Victorian houses from the early 1900's. We walked around thinking of what a fascinating place it must have been to live in.
We finished our tour and walked around the neighborhood on very narrow, crooked streets paved with bricks. It is difficult to drive in this area, but great for walking and admiring the variety of architecture. The sun was out and downtown was really getting hot so we had some lunch and drove back to our condo for an afternoon on the beach. There were lots of folks enjoying the smooth white sand and shallow sloping beach. Lots of guys who were surf fishing too, but I never saw them pull anything in. I waded in the water looking for shells and enjoying the cool ocean. We have quite the pile of sand outside our door from our shoes and towels. I can't believe that we will be back to snow tomorrow.
Dinner was at a restaurant out on the salt marsh. The houses nearby had docks that went on forever. Maintenance on them must be a real drag, but it is the only way to get out to water deep enough to float a boat. We had a great view of all the birds soaring over the marsh looking for fish. Why are we going home?