Oldest House

The Gonzalez-Alvarez house, commonly known as the Oldest House, was built shortly after the city was burned by the English in 1702. Its first owner was a Spanish artilleryman named Tomas Gonzalez Hernandez. Mary Evan Peavett, who owned the house during the American Revolution, was immortalized in Eugenia Price's popular novel Maria. In 1918, the house was acquired by the St. Augustine Historical Society and since that time has served as the organization's most important property for telling the story of the Oldest City.