The St. Augustine Amphitheatre is a venue for outdoor concerts and other large gatherings on A1A

Florida State Road A1A

State Road A1A is a Florida State Road that runs mostly along the Atlantic Ocean, with sections from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Callahan, just south of Georgia. It is the main road through most oceanfront towns. SR A1A is designated the A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Highway, a...

 in St Augustine, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The Amphitheatre seats 3,493 persons, and is managed by the St. Johns County

St. Johns County, Florida

St. Johns County is a county located in northeastern Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 190,039. The county seat is St. Augustine. Due to the inclusion of Ponte Vedra Beach, it is one of the highest-income counties in the United States....

 Parks & Recreation department.

History

The Amphitheatre was built in 1965 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine. The land was originally part of Anastasia State Park

Anastasia State Park

Anastasia State Recreation Area is a Florida State Park located on a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of Anastasia Island across Matanzas Bay from downtown St. Augustine...

. The amphitheatre itself was constructed in one of the old coquina quarries

Spanish Coquina Quarries

The Spanish Coquina Quarries are an historic site in St. Augustine Beach, Florida. They are located off A1A in Anastasia State Park. On February 23, 1972, they were added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.-References and external links:* at...

 used to supply building materials for St. Augustine and the Castillo de San Marcos

Castillo de San Marcos

The Castillo de San Marcos site is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It is located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish territory. During the twenty year period of British possession from 1763 until 1784, the...

.

The Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 winning playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 Paul Green was commissioned to write a play to be performed at the Amphitheatre. The result was Cross and Sword: A Symphonic Drama of the Spanish Settlement of Florida, a musical reenactment of the first years of St. Augustine's existence. Cross and Sword

Cross and Sword

Cross and Sword is a 1965 play by American playwright Paul Green. It is Florida's official state play, having received the designation by the Florida Senate in 1973. It was performed during the summer in St...

 was designated the official state play in 1973 by the Florida Legislature. The play ran until 1996, when budget constraints ended its more than 30 year run.

The amphitheatre was used infrequently during the following years, though it did host a free summer Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

Festival from 1997 to 2003. In 2002, St. Johns County acquired the property and the following year began an $8.7 million renovation. The upgraded facility reopened in August 2007, which includes a fiberglass tensile canopy over the main stage.