I loved learning about the history of this place as the old Alcazar Hotel, sister to the Ponce de Leon (now Flagler College, do the tour) across the street. The excellent restaurant is at the bottom of the old swimming pool, and my favorite thing was actually reading most of a Hotel history pamphlet over my wonderful lunch. Ask your waitress for it: the restaurant has a copy and she said it's for sale in the gift shop. Also, there are a few pictures of the old Hotel throughout the Museum, and some areas (like parts of the spa) look like they used to. The Gilded-Age objects will interest you if collections of old objects in museums usually do; they didn't much interest me. I do wish they'd concentrate on restoring the Hotel (showing what it was like when St. Augustine was briefly the Newport of the South) instead of using the Lightner as a museum of Gilded-Age objects. Hint: the lot behind the Museum is a good place to park when visiting downtown.