Davis Shores residents celebrate gift of new lions

Historic City News readers on Anastasia Island will be celebrating their newest neighbors Thursday, July 2 at 6:00 p.m. in Davis Park, when Davis Shores residents Wolfgang and Miki Schau dedicate their generous gift to the City of St Augustine — a new pair of lion statues for the east side of the Bridge of Lions.

For more than 85 years, the bridge over the Matanzas has been known as the “Bridge of Lions” because of the two lion statues poised at the bridge’s western approach. The Schaus commissioned the lions earlier this year and have been working with a local team to produce the statues.

“We are hosting a dinner party with delicious Greek food right after the dedication,” Susan Rathbone, president of the St Augustine North Davis Shores neighborhood association told Historic City News yesterday. “The neighborhood will set up a big tent in Nobby’s parking lot. We have been rolling meatballs and mixing Tsatziki for days.”

Former St. Augustine Mayor and medical doctor, Dr. Andrew Anderson, commissioned an Italian sculptor named Romanelli to create the original marble lions in 1927. Romanelli sculpted the lions based on a pair of centuries-old statues at the Loggia del Lanzi in Florence. According to Rathbone, the Schau’s had their lion statues made in similar design and style.

The gift represents the single largest private donation to the City of St. Augustine for its 450th Commemoration.

In addition to great food, Rathbone promises live music provided by several local bands and musicians. “There will be assorted music, but mostly Blue Grass,” Rathbone wrote to HCN editor, Michael Gold, in a follow-up e-mail laying out the evening’s plans. “We will have a cash bar, featuring fresh Garden to Glass cocktails.”

The dedication ceremony will be held at the intersection of North St. Augustine Boulevard and Anastasia Boulevard.

“The 450th Commemoration has always been about the community coming together and celebrating who we are in different ways, large and small,” said City Manager John Regan. “Wolfgang and Miki have contributed an iconic monument to St. Augustine that will become a lasting legacy for centuries.”