Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: These low stone walls are the remnants of a building constructed during the First Spanish Period (1513-1763) from native rock known as coquina. The building belonged to Antonio Rodriguez Arsian, a soldier whose family lived in St. Augustine for several generations. When Britain took over Florida in 1763, Arsian left with his family for Campeche, Mexico. When Spain reacquired Florida in 1784, the heirs of Arsian attempted to reclaim their father’s house on the bay. The house belonged to King Charles III of Spain in 1788 but was occupied by John Leslie of the firm of Panton, Leslie and Co., which dominated the Indian trade in the southeast during the Second Spanish Period. In 1790, the house became the legal property of the Arsian heirs, who then sold it to Francisco Xavier Miranda. In 1887, Dr. John Vedder, a local dentist and taxidermist, leased the house. Vedder transformed the house into a curiosity museum and menagerie. Vedder’s museum was a popular tourist attraction but a local nuisance. Following his death in 1899, the St. Augustine Historical Society bought the building and most of Vedder’s collection. The Society used the building as their headquarters until it was destroyed by a fire in 1914.