Old Town Trolley Tours of St. Augustine will add a trolley stop in front of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in February 2024. The move was part of a communitywide effort to embrace St. Augustine's Black history. | Old Town Trolley Tours of St. Augustine
Published on February 19, 2024 at 5:37 pm
One of St. Augustine’s cultural heartbeats may soon receive an infusion of foot traffic when Old Town Trolley Tours and Attractions St. Augustine adds the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center to its tour route.
Museum and company officials expect the tour stop to begin by the end of this month.
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“It will be a game changer for the museum because it will bring more people to our front door than we’ve had access to before,” said Regina Gayle Phillips, executive director of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center. “The trolleys bring hundreds of thousands of people throughout our city every year. A percentage of those people, I’m sure, will get off on the Lincolnville stop and come to the Lincolnville Museum to see what we have here.”
Dave Chatterton, general manager of Old Town Trolley Tours and Attractions, said the company, museum and city of St. Augustine have worked to make the museum its 22nd stop in and around downtown St. Augustine.
Last May, the city of St. Augustine approved a resolution that would allow Old Town to expand into Lincolnville so the city could “recognize and promote historic diversity” as well as help the museum attract additional visitors.
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The resolution called for:
- The city of St. Augustine constructing a loading zone on the western side of Martin Luther King Avenue.
- Building a stop next to the museum.
- Requiring that tour drivers not narrate while traveling down Martin Luther King Avenue, Lovett Street and Riberia Street — all heavily residential streets.
“Typically, we avoid residential neighborhoods,” Chatterton said. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for the residents saying that they wanted the trolleys there, this would never have happened. A lot of people involved are residents, city staff, our City Commission for approving the stop.”
After Minneapolis Police officers killed George Floyd in May 2020, a series of demonstrations were held in downtown St. Augustine that summer in an attempt to encourage equity in America’s oldest city.
Not only did those demonstrations lead to the removal from public property of an obelisk celebrating Confederate soldiers, but a discussion about how St. Augustine could better celebrate its Black history.
Since then, the museum, the city, the company and others have ironed out the logistics of the trolley route.
Phillips said the Lincolnville Museum made an effort this year to focus on celebrating Black history throughout the year, instead of concentrating events in February. Kicking off the trolley route during Black History Month was an added bonus.
“Not just (will trolley riders) get to see the Lincolnville Museum, but all these other historic, African-American sites within in the Lincolnville community,” Phillips said. “The historic churches, the ACCORD Freedom Trail. There is an array of things that they would see that they wouldn’t on the other parts of the route. Even if they stay on the trolley, they will hear some of the history that we’ve helped to write.”
Since the demonstrations in 2020, there has been a collective commitment from St. Augustine and St. Johns County’s government, business and historical leaders to bring the Florida Museum of Black History to St. Augustine in conjunction with a January 2024 restoration announcement at Fort Mose State Park.
Last year, former St. Augustine City Manager John Regan said the work of then-Public Works Director Reuben Franklin allowed the trolley stop to move forward. Regan, who has since retired, said the city worked with the Lincolnville Neighborhood Association for route concepts.
“There has always been a commitment to help the Lincolnville Cultural Museum find some type of level playing field in the tourism industry by having a trolley stop,” Regan told the City Commission. “Call that equity with regard to access by tourists.”
At that time, Regan mentioned that the NAACP recently issued a Florida travel advisory for Black residents because of its belief that Black life was devalued.
“Its very important that in order for this to be successful, we have to implement certain things that help the quality of life. Whether the trolleys stay going into Lincolnville or not, they are good improvements for the neighborhoods as a whole.”
