Lightner Museum — Attraction in Saint Augustine

HOLY… UNPROFESSIONAL… We had dinner reservations Sunday w/our 2yr-old. (Only ones by the way). We were incredibly patient given the rush of a wedding that was being put together around us. Our waitress was phenomenal. Dinner, incredible. But when we went to walk the round balcony upstairs around 4pm and thereafter exit - which is what we thought we were ok to do as no sign says “eat, then leave” - two phone-bearing staff members there stopped us and rudely accused us of planning to enter the museum. I explained the simple, minor confusion and she (blonde and short) said verbatim, “I watched you guys walk up the stairs, carrying your stroller and your baby,” as if that’s fun… (We hadn’t but turned the stroller in their direction before we were snapped at.) We looked stunned by the sudden rudeness and asked for a nearby elevator.. and she laughed at us and said “nope, you can exit the way you came in.” Fair, except there’s a whole balcony with historical facts/photos open to the diners. Remove them, then. Second, no ADA requirement for such prestigious establishment???…. Awkward. So I we looked at each other and proceeded down the flight of stairs with our toddler IN stroller again… hard enough as that is, no problem I guess? Infuriated now, I turned back around to explain that there must have been a mistake and I didn’t appreciate the unprofessionalism in front of my daughter. To this point, the girl in front of her (heavier set with spice girl space buns on top her head) put her finger up towards my face and told me to see my way out along with your now approaching security guard (short fro and shaking), who told us to, “see our way out” as well. A bit drastic considering I hadn’t gotten one single sentence out yet. It kinda felt like they expected me to come back and complain, so quickly teamed up for the sake of it being a slow Sunday. I mean they just snapped at the instant. Mind you, all of this happened within less than a minute which should explain it. Surely, you can take this as a regular review from someone who is quite angry from this all happening in front of her 2 year old or you could suggest three staff members made a bad assumption and wanted a young family to feel threatened by them given their Sunday afternoon boredom attack as they scrolled their cell phones waiting for someone like us to approach their hallway. Either way, I’ve truly never in 3 decades experienced such a heightened moment over stairs and an open entrance way with its own tiny, snappy body guard. No wonder we were the only ones. I truly could never view this establishment without a bad taste in my mouth moving forward. -first/last time Sunday...

When Henry Flagler developed his famous railroad that connected the East to the then-populous Key West, he needed his luxury travelers to have rest points along their journey. Therefore, he decided to develop two luxury hotels in one of the few developed cities in Florida at that time: the centuries-old Saint Augustine. The fist one, the Ponce de León Hotel(now Flagler College, across the street from The Lightner Museum and City Hall); the second was the Hotel Alcázar also now known as the Lightner Museum and the current site of the Saint Augustine City Hall. These hotels were jewels of the Gilded Age dedicated to the Spanish heritage of the town, and of their famous Conquistadores and settlers. Completed in 1888, the Alcazar was the second grand hotel in St. Augustine built by railroad magnate Henry Flagler. Three years earlier, Flagler had purchased his first parcel of land for development, setting in motion a plan to remake the Ancient City as a luxury winter resort for wealthy East Coast tourists. The Alcazar Hotel is a monolithic structure of poured concrete. Flagler’s St. Augustine hotels were the first large multistory concrete buildings in the United States. The hotel’s Spanish name is derived from an Arabic term meaning “castle,” and the imposing gray exterior looms fortress-like over a formal landscaped plaza separating the Alcazar from the Ponce de Leon Hotel. Purchased in 1947 by Otto Lightner, the Alcazar was transformed into a museum to house Lightner’s substantial collection of fine and decorative art, ephemera, and Americana. Today, as the Lightner Museum, the former Alcazar Hotel is a vibrant cultural destination welcoming visitors from all over the world. The statue of Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, founder of Saint Augustine, located at the entrance, was donated by the city of Avilés in...

This is an interesting place, to be sure. It is called the Lightner Museum and was founded by Otto Lightner, the publisher of Hobbies Magazine in the early 1900's. Obviously, one of his hobbies was collecting things. In fact, that's what this museum truly is, a Collection of Collections.

There's a little bit of everything in here, from science and animals to art, music, glassware, furniture, beer labels and others. Lightner obviously didn't turn his nose up and gathering things. Much of it, in fact, was salvaged from other mansions during the Great Depression of the 1920's.

Not everything here will be of interest to everyone, but I think everyone will find something that does interest them. It was worth the admission and wandering around to see what was on display. The building itself is interesting too. It was formerly the Hotel Alcazar, built by Henry Flagler, later bought by Lightner and ultimately gifted to the City of St. Augustine with his collections. It now houses his museum as well as some City offices. In fact, during the day we visited, a wedding was happening in the outdoor city courtyard.

Pretty interesting joint,...