Aviles Street is a narrow, brick road in downtown St. Augustine that is chock-full of history. Now, an archaeological dig appears to prove what many people in St. Augustine already claimed - that Aviles is the oldest street in the United States.
"We know this road dates back to the early 1600's based on the pottery we've recovered," Carl Halbirt, archaeologist for the city of St. Augustine, said.
Halbirt and his team have found pottery shards several feet under the current bricks of Aviles, in older layers of Aviles Street. However, Philadelphia claims its road, Elfreth's Alley, is the oldest residential street in America dating back to 1720.
A woman who answered the phone at the Elfreth's Alley Association in Philadelphia said her group does not claim Elfreth's Alley is the oldest street in America, rather the oldest continuously residential street in the country.
Halbirt said people have been living along Aviles Street in St. Augustine for a lot longer than the 1720's.
"Eat my dust, Philly," Halbirt joked. "Clearly we have taken Aviles Street back 100 years before the official development of that street in Philadelphia," he explained.
What's more, Halbirt has found areas of dark ashes under the 1600's layer of Aviles Street. He said those burned areas could be from 1586 when Sir Francis Drake and his men burned St. Augustine to the ground.
"So, Philadelphia is clearly wrong," Halbirt said with a smile. "We're throwing down the gauntlet here in St. Augustine!"
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