The historic city of St Augustine FL was founded by the Spanish in 1565. Over the next four and a half centuries, it was burned to the ground nine times by pirates, native attacks, and British troops, was ruled by Britain for 21 years before returning to Spanish rule, then sold to the US, joined the Confederacy, was captured by the Union Navy, served as a prison during several wars, and is now the oldest existing city in the United States.
Here are some photos from the St Augustine History Museum:
The museum.
Native American artifacts. Most of them are Timucuan.
A thousand-year-old dugout canoe, found preserved in a lake bottom.
Spanish helmets.
Spanish rapiers.
Spanish silver ingot. From the wreck of the treasure galleon Atocha.
Pirate weapons. Cutlass and blunderbuss.
Archaeological finds from the period of British rule.
Civil War uniforms and weapons. St Augustine was occupied by the Union Navy for most of the war.
19th century Floridians lived by cattle-herding. They used a long bullwhip to herd their cattle, which gave them the nickname "crackers".
A 19th century bicycle, with wooden wheels. Known as a "boneshaker".
A telegraph from Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad. Flagler's railroad connected Florida to the rest of the country, resulting in the population boom and land rush of the 1920's.