Old Mill

Old Mill

Old Gristmill

Milltop Tavern

Milltop Tavern and Listening Room

Walter B. Fraser

1880s or 1930s

1947

1950s

1970s

1996

2016

This building was originally a gristmill or house depending on who is telling the history.

This building is now a restaurant and live music venue.

There are several versions of history for this location:

1. Built as a gristmill in the 1880s [despite the absence of a creek in the vicinity]. In the 1950s, the mill was turned into a restaurant. In the 1970s, the building was renovated and renamed the Milltop Tavern and Listening Room to offer live music. In 2016, the state of the building was such that it had to be completely rebuilt. During excavation, the City Archeaologist uncovered an old well and other items. Parts of the original mill, such as the 300-year-old cypress panelling, was saved and reinstalled in the new building. During the 2016 rebuild, the original wood panelling was found to have been painted with mid-20th century advertisements for coca-cola and Florida orange juice. [from the Milltop]

2. To capitalize on tourism, in the 1950s, the then owners took B.F. Oliveras's 1880s home, put a contemporary waterwheel and stucco over the wood frame, scored to look like old, dilapidated brick, and called it the Old Mill.  [from Gordon]

3. Built as a gristmill in the 1930s, powered by well water until c.1947 when the second floor was turned into a restaurant. Restoration of the 1947 wheel occurred in 1996. [from Rajtar and Goodman]

At roughly this location on a map from 1884 is a marker noting this building's rough location as home to "the famous rose tree of Mr. Olivero can be seen at his place on St. George Street near the City Gates. The tree is fifteen feet high, and twenty-one inches in circumference" (Bloomfield, 1884, 56). Oliveras is a Minorcan name and the northern end of St. George Street was predominately Minorcan after their arrival in St. Augustine in 1777. B. F. Olivero(as) could have been Bartolome Oliveros who married Fernanda Gonzales in 1823 whose ancestors date back to the 1st Spanish Period (1565-1763).

For information about dining, please refer to the Milltop Tavern's website.

19 1/2 St. George Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Milltop Tavern and Listening Room

This building is located on St. George Street.

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

Photograph 1 (2023): Augusty, Jean-Marc. "Water Wheel Building." March 5, 2023.

Photograph 2 (2023): Augusty, Jean-Marc. "Water Wheel." March 5, 2023.

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

Bloomfield, Max. Bloomfield’s Illustrated Historical Guide, Embracing an Account of the Antiquities of St. Augustine, Florida (with map). To Which is Added a Condensed Guide of the St. John’s, Ocklawaha, Halifax, and Indian Rivers. St. Augustine, FL: Max Bloomfield, 1884.

Gordon, Elsbeth “Buff.” Walking St. Augustine: An Illustrated Guide and Pocket History to America’s Oldest City. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 2015.

Harvey, Karen. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Pictorial History. Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company, 1980.

“Our Special History.” Milltop Tavern and Listening Room.” https://www.milltoptavern.com/ourhistory.

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

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 building as a location:
Always the Vampire
La Vida Vampire

This record was last updated on May 30, 2025.