St. Johns County 200th Anniversary: Transfer of Authority

On Saturday, July 10, 2021 at 11:00 a.m., the City of St. Augustine and St. Johns County will host a reenactment of the Transfer of Authority to commemorate the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States.

Participating host organizations include the University of Florida, the Florida National Guard, and Historic Florida Militia. In addition to members of Historic Florida Militia, living history interpreters will include those from other areas of Florida and from the states of New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia. These living history interpreters will be dressed as Spanish and U.S. troops, dignitaries, and citizens would have been in 1821, and will include people in carriages and on horseback. The transfer ceremony will begin with a declaration from the balcony of the Governor's House, and continue with the signing of documents and a transfer of keys to the city will be held in the courtyard of the building.

Following that ceremony, participants will progress by foot or in carriages and on horseback to the St. Francis Barracks Parade Grounds on Marine Street.  The general public is invited to fall in behind the the official procession to the parade grounds. There, the officials will conduct a "Change of Flags" ceremony that will include cannon and musket firing, playing of the national anthems of both Spain and the U.S., the lowering of the Spanish flag, and the raising of the flag of the United States of America.