Searle’s Raid is an annual event that recreates the famous bloody pirate raid on St. Augustine in 1668, takes place on the first Friday and Saturday of March. Join the Historic Florida Militia in the reenactment of the “1668 Sack of St. Augustine” in our nations’ oldest city. During the day, a 17th century-style military encampment will be open to the public at the Colonial Quarter and will play host to military drills, demonstrations, and living history interpretation. The actual sacking and burning of the town will commence Saturday evening at 4:30pm. The specific route may vary.

The procession that commemorates the arrival of the raiding pirates and introduces this annual event will begin at the Colonial Quarter at 4:30pm and will proceed north on St. George Street to the Santo Domingo Redoubt on Orange Street. The Searle’s Sack encampment will take place on the first Saturday from 10am to 4pm at the Colonial Quarter. The reenactment of the battle between the freebooters and the city’s Spanish defenders will take place in St. Augustine’s historic district at 4:30pm on Saturday. The English brigade will head up St. George Street from the Plaza toward the city gates, and the battle will commence when the English try to invade the Spanish defenders who will be stationed at the Santo Domingo Redoubt off Orange Street across from Potter’s Wax Museum. Living history gets real when living historians demonstrate how the Spanish settlers had to fight off Searle and his pirates.

Events in the historic district are free.