We visited the Ancient Spanish Monastery on one of our many visits to Florida and enjoyed it very much. I do not think it is a huge tourist attraction but it is wonderful all the same. The story behind it and the fact that it is the oldest building in the western hemisphere makes it truly unique and special.
The monastery was very interesting because it was built in Spain in 1133-41 in Spain, but in 1925 it was bought by William Randolph Hearst. He has it dismantled, had its 35,000 stones packed into crates and delivered to New York. In New York, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, led to the crates being unpacked and the hay used for packing in the crates was burned. The stones were repacked incorrectly, and finally in1952 the stones were shipped to North Miami. The monastery was built and resembles the original version but there is still a pile of stones in one of the gardens that have not been used in the building because noone could figure out where they went.
From journal Our Really. Big Florida Adventure!