| TRAVELS OF DURSMIRG VOLUME IV THE ROGUES OF ST. AUGUSTINE AND OTHER SOCIAL MISFITS Chapter 19 |
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CITY STREETS - AVILES STREET
AVILES STREET; A narrow brick paved relic of the early days of the Old City’s downtown business district.
This is where cargo was off loaded from sailing ships into various chandlery shops and warehouses in the Old City’s
early days.
Some of those old wooden structures from centuries past were still standing though those remaining buildings had
all been converted to other uses by the early 1970s.
The original Hamblin Hardware warehouse building was there but had already been converted into an outwardly
unpretentious upscale and very lovely apartment house.
(Jane and I even looked at it and considered the old Hamblen Hardware building on Aviles Street as a possible
purchase in 1977 but couldn’t come to terms.)
Map of downtown St. Augustine, Florida
Aviles Street is only two blocks long running north and south and is situated in the heart of the Ancient City’s
downtown business district between St. George Street and Charlotte. In the first years of St. Augustine this was the
warehouse area close to the bay front where the old wooden Hamblen Hardware structure was situated. If you look
just north of the bridge on the water front you will see still depicted on this old map the name of “Hamblen Pl.”.
Also on Aviles Street was the public library formerly the home of General Edmond Kirby Smith a West Point graduate
and later a General in the CSA (Confederate States of America.) #27 on the above map marks the home site where
the family garden was still kept in the 1970s and was visible from Artillery Lane that bordered the north side of the
property.
Little Aviles Street didn’t attract the main flow of tourist traffic because parking was nearly non-existent.
Bikers, hikers and various strolling visitors with an abundance of time to explore usually found this quiet little side
street with its few quaint shops.
Situated almost across the street from the General Edmond Kirby Smith home, (public library) was Mrs. Burke’s
Tourist Trinket Shop.
Mrs. Burke owned and operated her neatly stocked knickknack and jewelry shop where you would always find
merchandise uniquely different than was found anywhere else in the state.
I don’t know what Mrs. Burke’s special secret was for her exclusively exceptional merchandise but it was always
refreshing to shop there when I wanted something special for someone very special.
It didn't take long and you would be on a first name basis with this interesting lady. Her husband, friendly, smiling
and jovial Mr. Burke was an engineer aboard the Florida East Coast railroad and on his off time tended the shop
with his wife. They had a unique store that was a one of a kind that seemed to run by a clock set back 40 or 50
years.
General Edmond Kirby Smith in his
confederate gray uniform.
next chapter
AVILES STREET; A narrow brick paved relic of the early days of the Old City’s downtown business district.
This is where cargo was off loaded from sailing ships into various chandlery shops and warehouses in the Old City’s
early days.
Some of those old wooden structures from centuries past were still standing though those remaining buildings had
all been converted to other uses by the early 1970s.
The original Hamblin Hardware warehouse building was there but had already been converted into an outwardly
unpretentious upscale and very lovely apartment house.
(Jane and I even looked at it and considered the old Hamblen Hardware building on Aviles Street as a possible
purchase in 1977 but couldn’t come to terms.)
Map of downtown St. Augustine, Florida
Aviles Street is only two blocks long running north and south and is situated in the heart of the Ancient City’s
downtown business district between St. George Street and Charlotte. In the first years of St. Augustine this was the
warehouse area close to the bay front where the old wooden Hamblen Hardware structure was situated. If you look
just north of the bridge on the water front you will see still depicted on this old map the name of “Hamblen Pl.”.
Also on Aviles Street was the public library formerly the home of General Edmond Kirby Smith a West Point graduate
and later a General in the CSA (Confederate States of America.) #27 on the above map marks the home site where
the family garden was still kept in the 1970s and was visible from Artillery Lane that bordered the north side of the
property.
Little Aviles Street didn’t attract the main flow of tourist traffic because parking was nearly non-existent.
Bikers, hikers and various strolling visitors with an abundance of time to explore usually found this quiet little side
street with its few quaint shops.
Situated almost across the street from the General Edmond Kirby Smith home, (public library) was Mrs. Burke’s
Tourist Trinket Shop.
Mrs. Burke owned and operated her neatly stocked knickknack and jewelry shop where you would always find
merchandise uniquely different than was found anywhere else in the state.
I don’t know what Mrs. Burke’s special secret was for her exclusively exceptional merchandise but it was always
refreshing to shop there when I wanted something special for someone very special.
It didn't take long and you would be on a first name basis with this interesting lady. Her husband, friendly, smiling
and jovial Mr. Burke was an engineer aboard the Florida East Coast railroad and on his off time tended the shop
with his wife. They had a unique store that was a one of a kind that seemed to run by a clock set back 40 or 50
years.
General Edmond Kirby Smith in his
confederate gray uniform.
next chapter
