This month, the focus will be on the Tolomato Trees, the two magnificent (if somewhat hurricane-battered) live oak trees that immediately attract the attention of visitors. And questions, mostly "How old are those trees?"  This month, archeo-botanist Dr. Lee Newsom is coming to the Cemetery on our Open Day, at noon on Saturday, April 20th, to tell us all about these two great trees as well as some of our other lesser noticed plants.

This has been a busy year...so busy that we haven't even published our "cemeteries I visited on my summer vacation" post.  But this is what we did at Tolomato today, with the great kids and teachers and interpreters from FSDB.  Rubbings!
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But we've got something else really special in the works: Historian Dr. Susan Parker is going to give the "Tolomato Talk" this year!  The title of her talk is. "Before the Cemetery: Mission Tolomato and Its People."  She will discuss the early 18th century Indian village at Tolomato Mission before it became a cemetery with the arrival of the Minorcans in 1777.  

Dr. Parker's presentation begins at 7:00 pm at the St Augustine Art Association, 22 Marine St., St. Augustine. There is free parking at Cathedral Parish School, 259 St George St. The talk is free, but seating is limited, so please RSVP to (904) 824-2310. ​

A small-town Connecticut historic cemetery (17th century) visited by one of our TCPA members this summer. Stay tuned for the blog post on what we cemetery buffs did for our cemetery - er, I mean, summer - vacation.

And this will be followed by a post on all the restoration work we have done or had done at Tolomato this summer.
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Author: Nick McAuliffe, Vice President, TCPA; photos by Nick McAuliffe and Don and Joan Roberts

Late Sunday evening, the Tolomato Cemetery was visited by a special group: Florida artists.

This night-time happening was part of a week long Plein Air event sponsored by the St Augustine Art Association, an opportunity for artists to hone their skills at out-of-door interpretation of scenic spots all over our fair city.

The moon was full, the weather was perfect, and the artists took full advantage of this unusual opportunity to spend time working within the Tolomato Cemetery at night. As a bonus, we were able to enjoy the impromptu play of mandolinist, Mike Elias. 
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Thanks to Elyse Brady from the Art Association and our own volunteers, Pat Balanzategui, Joan and Don Roberts and Nick McAuliffe for help in making this  event a success.