Saturday, March 3, 2018 Menorcan Heritage Celebration -- 241st Anniversary of Arrival of the Menorcans in St. Augustine, Florida

Celebrate the epic history of some 700 Menorcans, Italians, Greeks, et al., who escaped British colonial "indentured servitude" (read: slavery by contract) tyranny and "voted with their feet," empowered by Fr. Pedro Camps, most walking 70 miles, walking from New Smyrna to St. Augustine.

The Menorcans escaped from Andrew Turnbull's failed indigo plantation in what is now New Smyra Beach, Florida, where hundreds perished from disease and starvation.

There are some 25,000 Menorcans living in St. Johns County today -- they helped preserve and protect our village of St. Augustine from the ravages of "development" seen elsewhere in Florida. Menorcan history is neglected in St. Augustine tourism.

Menorcan history must be now told as part of the visitor center for the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, first proposed in 1939 by then-Mayor Walter Fraser, Senators Claude Pepper, Charles Andrews and Rep. Joseph Hendricks.

 What do you reckon?