The Minorcan Experience

The Minorcan Experience presents St. Augustine's Minorcan heritage with a month of activities in historic downtown from March 2 through 24, 2024.

The month of activities starts with a celebration hosted by the Menorcan Cultural Society, with assistance from the Minorcan Experience. The celebration takes place from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 2nd. For more about the Menorcan Heritage Celebration, go here. 

The Minorcan Experience presents three other activities in March:

• Saturday, March 9, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. Ryan Saxon presents "Andres Pacetti: A Minorcan In St. Augustine," at the Ximenez-Fatio House, 20 Aviles Street, St. Augustine.
• Saturday, March 16, 2024, from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m., a docent's tour of the Minorcan Tolomato Cemetery, where the first Minorcans were buried in St. Augustine. Each tour lasts about 20 minutes.
• Sunday, March 24, 2024, at 1:00 p.m., Greg Holbrook, Director of the New Smyrna Museum of History, presents information on the canal system of New Smyrna. The canals were dug by the colonists and used for transportation, drainage, and crop watering.

Admission: All Events are FREE and open to the public.

When: March 2 through March 24, 2024

Where: Locations vary by event. See below for the time and location of each event.

Minorcan History

The term "Minorcan" describes the group of Mediterranean people (about 1,400 in all) who came to British East Florida in the late 18th century to work as indentured servants on a plantation settlement in New Smyrna. Many of these were actually from the island of Minorca. Still, they were joined by many others who were from other Mediterranean towns and regions, including Greeks, Italians, Corsicans, French, and Spanish. Their first several years in Florida were harsh and their numbers decreased, but in 1777, they were granted a space to settle in the northwest section of the fledgling port town of St. Augustine. They have been an integral part of the nation's oldest city ever since.