The 2023 St. Augustine History Festival is more than academic talks and demonstrations. Historic Tolomato Cemetery will host a scavenger hunt within the cemetery grounds on Friday, May 12, from 3-5 PM for an afternoon of family fun searching for clues to solve the puzzle.

Tolomato Cemetery is one of the most historic locations in St. Augustine, operating throughout the 18th century until 1884. This beautiful space is the last resting place of some 1,000 St. Augustinians, including many people important to the history of Florida and the United States. It is a distillation of St. Augustine's history in less than one acre, starting with the First Spanish Period, when Tolomato was a Franciscan mission, and going through its use as a cemetery during the British Period and the Second Spanish Period, and through Florida’s Territorial and early Statehood periods.

Burials include people from Spain, Cuba, Ireland, Minorca, Italy, Greece, Africa, Haiti, France, and the American South and Northeast. Graves of soldiers from both sides of the Civil War, and even the burial place of a man important in the history of Cuba, who may one day be declared a saint, Fr. Felix Varela, rest here.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The St. Augustine History Festival was created and conceived by UFHSA (University of Florida Historic St. Augustine, Inc.) for the purpose of generating excitement about the history of America’s oldest city. Every era of St. Augustine’s long and storied past is showcased through special events and historic venues – from its founding in 1565 to the most advanced technology available in 2023 to research and study every year in between.

American history began here, and no one tells the story better!

Visit StAugustineHistoryFestival.com to see a complete list of participating venues.