Susan Parker | St. Augustine delegation celebrated in Spain 98 years ago

At the end of July 1924, 98 years ago, delegates from Florida (most from St. Augustine), arrived in Spain. They would participate in the first event of decades to come of the exchange of gifts and mementos between St. Augustine and Avilés, Spain.

Angel La Madrid Cuesta of Tampa and owner of the Cuesta-Rey cigar factory, masterminded and led the official delegation of Americans to Avilés to renew and strengthen ties between Florida and Spain and, by extension, between Spain and the United States. Aviles is the hometown of St. Augustine's founder Pedro Menendez de Aviles.

The Ayuntamiento (City Council) of Avilés invited representatives to attend the re-burial ceremony of Pedro Menendez de Avilés in August 1924 and to accept his outer coffin as a gift from Avilés to St. Augustine. Florida Gov. Cary Hardee appointed nine persons as honorary commissioners. Angel Cuesta served a Gov. Hardee's personal representative.

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Angel Cuesta was one of the many young men who left Spain in the late 1800s for Cuba, at the time still a Spanish colony. Like his fellow Spaniards, Cuesta re-located to the United States and established a cigar factory. Cuesta-Rey cigars were once the official cigar of Spain's King Alfonso XIII. Cuesta was honored with the title “Tobacco Purveyor for the Spanish King and Court.”

Gov. Hardee appointed as delegates Col. W.A. MacWilliams, Judge Obe P. Goode, Sen. A.M. Taylor, Frederick S. Vaill, Frank Nix, Edward G. Vail, Robert Scott, John B. Stetson Jr., and Cuesta.

Remember that in 1924 airplane travel was not available to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The delegates and their families had to sail to Spain.

Mrs. Obe Goode wrote to her son in St. Augustine that they spent five days and 22 hours on the water. The Goodes visited France, Switzerland and Italy before heading to Madrid to rendezvous with the other delegates on July 30.

From Madrid, off they went to Avilés and the ceremonies. It was stated in 1924 this was thought to be "the first time in history that an American city has sent a delegation to a city in another country." U.S. Ambassador to Spain Alexander Moore met the Americans in Avilés.

On Aug. 8, Avilésinos welcomed the Florida visitors with decorated streets, a parade, waving handkerchiefs and skyrockets. The parade and the delegates passed through the Arch of Welcome that read (in Spanish, of course) "the people of Avilés (welcome) the representatives from Florida."

The visitors from St. Augustine had left behind the steamy August weather of our city for the cooler weather of Avilés. Film made of the parade and of other events shows the women wearing coats and always a breeze stiffening flags and banners. Historically, Avilés' daytime temperature at this time of year is about 72-75 degrees.

As I read online the Avilés weather information, I thought "what a change the St. Augustine weather must have been for Menendez's settlers from northern Spain as they set about to establish our city in early September 1565."

The day following the parade, the Florida delegates participated in a procession to escort the remains of Menendez to their new location. Reburial took place three days later on Aug. 12. Frederick Vail recalled: "The serious aspect of our visit now changed to gaiety." The visitors were entertained lavishly.

After the ceremonies in Avilés, King Alfonso XIII had the Florida delegation as luncheon guests at his summer home in Santander. Vaill commented that both the king and queen were flirtatious. King Alfonso remarked to Vaill that there were cocktails for the visitors. The king exclaimed, "Let me see. You come from a dry country!" In 1924, prohibition was in effect in the United States.

Menendez's outer coffin was shipped from Santander in October 1924, a tangible link of the Spanish founder of our city. Today the coffin is on exhibit at Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine.

Note: Frederick Vail's typescript memories and photos of the event in Avilés are available in the annual journal of the St. Augustine Historical Society, El Escribano, for 2011.

You can watch a 30-minute video ("Aviles 1924") on YouTube of the 1924 events in Aviles. The subtitles are in Spanish. It is fascinating to see a celebration of this sort of a century ago.

Susan R. Parker holds a doctorate in colonial history.

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: St. Augustine history: City's delegation sailed to Spain 98 years ago