First claimed by Don Juan Ponce de Leon, Spanish explorer and treasure hunter on March 27, 1513, the area was known as La Floria, "Land of Flowers". 

It was not until Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles was named as governor of Florida and arrived off the coast in August 18, 1565, on the feast of St. Augustine, that he renamed the area St. Augustine.  Menendez destroyed the French garrison established on the St, John's River. He then set out to build the colony of St. Augustine, establish a mission for the Indians and explore the area.  When plundering and burning threatened, the Castillo de San Marcos was built to defend the town.  Finally in 1763 Spain ceded Florida to England starting twenty years of British rule.  Spain held Florida again for thirty-seven years until Florida was sold to the United States of America and became the twenty-seventh state in the Union in 1845.

Throughout the Civil War, Union troops occupied the town, although it was seceded with the rest of the confederacy.  following the war's end, speculators and land developers saw Florida as the potential haven it is today.  Henry M. Flagler arrived in the 1880's and built two lavish hotel and the area soon became a popular winter destination for the elite of the north.

The town has continued to preserve and restore the century old structures that are so historically significant today.