Freedom Trail now offers audio tours

Gwendolyn Duncan, President of “Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations Inc” announced this week that Historic City News readers are now able to follow St Augustine’s Freedom Trail with the assistance of their own cellphone.

Through an interactive audio tour guide, visitors can stop at any of the thirty-one Freedom Trail Markers located in and around St Augustine and St Johns County, then dial-in for detailed information unique to that historic site.

“I never thought, growing up in Lincolnville and living through part of the Jim Crow Era, that someday the civil rights movement could be revisited — just by pressing numbers on a cellphone,” Duncan told Historic City News.

While visiting a beach in Flagler County, Duncan saw the technology used for the first time on an A1A Scenic Highway Stop. She used her cell phone to call in to get information on that historic site.

Duncan asked her daughter Elizabeth, who is the webmaster for ACCORD, to contact OnCell and learn how to implement a similar system in St Augustine — one of the great battlefields of the civil rights movement. OnCell is a global industry-leading service provider of informational content to cell phones, smartphones, and tablets for museums, cultural sites, parks, and other venues.

The past few months were spent gathering the audio tracks, ordering the markers, and installing signs along the already established ACCORD Freedom Trail of historic civil rights sites; sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Corporation.

“Through this new program, visitors can actually hear Dr. Robert B. Hayling’s voice, while visiting the site of his former dental office,” Duncan explained. “The twentieth century comes alive, thanks to twenty-first century technology.”

Duncan offered a special “thank you” to her daughter, Elizabeth Duncan, as well as David Nolan, Daryl Price, Janie Price, Dr. Robert B. Hayling, Kenneth & Kathy Ginn, Marcus Ginn, Zebulun Duncan of Duncan and Duncan Construction, Dr. Kathryn Fentress, Audrey Nell Edwards, OnCell Marketing Communications Manager Sarah Exley, and Fast Signs.

Businesses or individuals wishing to sponsor the Audio Tour on a monthly, bi-monthly, semi-annual, or annual basis may contact Audrey at (904) 829-3996 for more information. The 40th ACCORD, Inc. is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax deductible.

Photo credits: © 2012 Historic City News staff photographer