Africa

Africa

Lincolnville

1866

Continuous

Lincolnville is a historic neighborhood.

Previously a site for orange groves and Native American villages, Lincolnville is a historically black neighborhood founded in 1866 by the freed slaves of St. Augustine under the name of Africa. When the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, roughly 672 slaves in the area were freed. Later, they became the founders of Africa, later Lincolnville. The descendants of these people continued to celebrate the anniversary of their emancipation day with passion.

As the 19th century progressed, Lincolnville was planned from its 1866 beginnings to be a full-functioning separate town south of King Street complete with businesses, churches, schools, and farm plots and a visitor in 1885 would have seen the success of that plan.

During the period of legalized segregation, Lincolnville grew with St. Augustine, encompassing not just the historically black areas but also adjacent white residences that sprouted along with it. Due to restrictive laws during the Jim Crow era, a definitive end to black political participation in Lincolnville came in 1902, when resident John Papino was shot after winning the election for city council. No black officials would be elected to city government again until 1973.

A notable resident of Lincolnville, Frank Butler, was instrumental in making sure that black citizens had a place to enjoy the beach (Butler Beach), otherwise excluded from whites-only beaches by segregation laws.

The Civil Rights Movement brought many demonstrations to Lincolnville, and it became a center for civil rights involvement in St. Augustine. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Andrew Young led a night march from Lincolnville to the Plaza de la Constitucion in 1964, facing violent opposition. Two monuments to this walk remain, including brass footsteps at the Andrew Young crossing and a bronze Foot Soldiers memorial in the Plaza, which serves as a reminder of not just the most famous march, but everyone who served in peaceful protests during the 1960s. 

Today, Lincolnville still contains the largest concentration of late Victorian era buildings, most of which remain private homes. The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center on Martin Luther King Avenue works to educate vistors about the 450-year history of the empires of West Africa, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, colonial Florida, and Lincolnville. The Lincolnville Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. In early 2025, part of the British defensive breastworks, specifically a redoubt for the Tenaille defense line, were found south of Bridge Street, helping to match modern St. Augustine to 18th Century maps.

City of St. Augustine

This neighborhood has no restrictions for driving or walking around to visit.

Bravo Street is in Lincolnville.

Freedom Trail sites are located throughout Lincolnville.

Maria Sanchez Lake is the eastern boundary of Lincolnville.

Riberia Street is in Lincolnville.

The western half of St. Francis Street is Lincolnville.

The following books, articles, websites, and photographers were used to find the above photographs or illustrations:

Photograph 1 (c.1904): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Roaring Twenties. Acadia Publishing, 2012.

Photograph 2 (c.1925): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Roaring Twenties. Acadia Publishing, 2012.

Photo 3 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Lincolnville." July 22, 2025.

Photo 4 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Lincolnville Plaque." July 22, 2025.

The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:

Adams, William R. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Historical Guide. Pineapple Press, 2009.

Cross, Brandon D. “Lincolnville Historic District.” Edited by Bill Pfingsten. HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. January 2, 2019. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=102736.

Florida Memory: State Library and Archives of Florida. “The Forgotten History of Lincolnville.” August 8, 2016. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/322317.

Rajtar, Steve, and Kelly Goodman. A Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida. 1^st edition. The History Press, 2007.

St. Augustine Ponte Vedra. “The Story of Lincolnville.” https://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/blog/the-story-of-lincolnville/.

Viti, Lucia. “18^th Century British Ramparts Are Discovered in St. Augustine’s Lincolnville.” St. Augustine Record, February 6, 2025. https://www.staugustine.com/story/news/environment/2025/02/06/archeologists-unearth-evidence-of-a-british-fort-in-st-augustine/78281629007/.

Waterbury, Jean Parker, ed. The Oldest City: St. Augustine, Saga of Survival. St. Augustine, FL: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1983.

Flagler College’s Rare Books, Floridiana & Institutional Repository are neither the original nor current copyright owner for the photographs. Please contact the publisher or source cited for each photograph to obtain a copy and/or permission to reproduce these items.

The following St. Augustine Fiction books feature this historic site as a location:

Cracker Cop
Once to Every Man
One Summer in the Old Town
St. Augustine's Spirits in Our Midst
Sugar Cage
Tales of St. Augustine

This record was last updated on October 7, 2025.