updated 7:17 p.m. ET Aug. 27, 2007

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Lillian Roberson was about to doze off when she heard a car pull up outside her home. Her husband, Bungum, and her four young sons were asleep.

When she got up to check, the back of her home was ablaze — a firebomb had been thrown inside, likely by the Ku Klux Klan. She and her husband were able to get the boys out safely, but their home was destroyed.

The Feb. 7, 1964, attack was aimed at intimidating the Robersons — the black family had begun sending their children to a previously all-white elementary school. All that remains today of their Victorian home are three moss-covered brick steps.

Hours later the Klan apparently struck again — someone shot up the home of a prominent black activist, dentist R.B. Hayling.

But the attacks had an effect the perpetrators couldn't have anticipated — it turned the sites into monuments. Both are among 10 now designated as part of the Freedom Trail, a series of historical landmarks in St. Augustine significant to the civil rights movement.

Included are the home where the Rev. Martin Luther King and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy stayed while in St. Augustine while leading demonstrations that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the former downtown Woolworth's store where lunch counter sit-ins were staged; and the state headquarters of King's Southern Christian Leadership Council. David Nolan, a local historian and author, did the research on the sites for the 40th ACCORD, a grass-roots civil rights commemorative group, and hopes to add another 20 more markers if funding can be found.

"This isn't about black history. This is underexposed American history," said Rick Matthew's, vice president of Northrop Grumman Corp. The aviation company, which has a large plant near town, paid $1,000 each for the markers.

The Robersons were raising their boys on Gaunt Street, a narrow road of homes in the northern part of the nation's oldest city, just blocks from the famed "Fountain of Youth."

Bungum Roberson worked at the local Ford dealership, a job he lost after his home was destroyed.

A cold, stiff February northwesterly wind was blowing the rain. The Roberson boys, ages 3, 5, 7 and 10, were asleep when the large dark car pulled up outside the house, its lights off.

Lillian Roberson peered out the window, but couldn't see much, so she got up to investigate.

That's when she saw the flames burning in the back of her house.

If you go St. Augustine freedom trail: ACCORD, the 40th Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations Inc. Here are the civil rights landmarks on St. Augustine's Freedom Trail: 31 King St.: Site of the Woolworth's Department Store where students from Florida Memorial College were arrested in sit-ins in the 1960s at the lunch counter protesting racial discrimination. Gault Street: The home where Bungum Roberson's family lived. The home was firebombed in 1964 by the Ku Klux Klan because they sent their sons to the previously all-white Fullerwood School. The brick steps are all that remain. 8 R. B. Hayling Place: The residence of Dr. Robert B. Hayling, a dentist and Air Force veteran who became a leader in the civil rights movement in St. Augustine. His home became the target for racist attacks. In one of them, the family dog was killed and Mrs. Hayling narrowly escaped being shot. 79 Bridge St.: Hayling's dental office. 97 Martin Luther King Ave.: The Lincolnville Public Library, where the Rev. Thomas Wright, president of the local NAACP and pastor of St. Mary's Baptist Church, trained Florida Memorial students in the techniques of nonviolent protests before their lunch counter sit ins. 156 Martin Luther King Ave.: The home of nurse Janie Price. The Revs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy stayed at her home and were arrested the next day for peaceful protests at the Monson Motor Lodge. 177 Twine St.: The former home of Loucille Plummer, a nurse and civil rights activist. Mary Parker Peabody, the 72-year-old mother of the governor of Massachusetts, stayed at the house and was arrested for trying to be served in a racially integrated group at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge on March 31, 1964. 64 Washington St.: The Florida State headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was there during and after the civil rights demonstrations of 1964. 57 Chapin St.: The childhood home of William Galimore, former Florida A&M and Chicago Bears running back. Galimore made history by being the first black to be able to register as a guest at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge. 96 Evergreen Ave.: The former location of the Zion Baptist Church, where numerous civil rights rallies were held. Civil rights attorney William Kunstler spoke at the church.

"It was burning and burning, real fast and real quick," she recalled in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

"If it wasn't for God, we wouldn't be alive," she said. "I was terrified. They boys were really small and I was concerned about them."

Roberson said the family stayed until the end of the school year, moving to Philadelphia and then back to Jacksonville.

About two hours after the Roberson home was torched, Hayling was at home with his pregnant wife and two young daughters, when gunfire rang out.

Hayling served as an adult adviser to the NAACP Youth Council and for 11 months as head of the St. Augustine chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Council.

The bullets, which perforated many of the home's walls, came close to killing Mrs. Hayling and it killed the family pet, a boxer named Madonna. Hayling loaded up his family and took them to Tallahassee for safety.

Hayling was a visible and hated troublemaker to the Klan and local group of lawless marauders, led by Holsted "Hoss" Manucy, who fought integration with his Manucy's Raiders.

Deal of the Day Halloween-themed hotel deals Packages with tricks and treats — without scaring your bank account, from $59

At a Klan meeting in September 1963, the Rev. Connie Lynch, a traveling racist evangelist, urged violence against Hayling, according to the book "Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan."

Author David Chalmers, a retired University of Florida history professor, refers in the book to a report by a white minister named Irvin Cheny, who quoted Lynch's remarks about Hayling.

"He's got no right to live at all, let alone walk up and down your streets and breathe the white man's free air. He ought to wake up tomorrow morning with a bullet between his eyes. If you were half the men you claim to be, you'd kill him before sunup."

Five months later, shots were fired into his home.

In a telephone interview from his home in Lauderhill, Hayling, now 77, talked about the fear and hatred that ran rampant in the summer of 1964, when King brought his demonstrations to a community that was preparing to celebrate its 400th birthday.

Excursion Exam Test your smarts Test your travel IQ with the weekly quiz.

On another occasion, Hayling and three other men were kidnapped as they spied on a Ku Klux Klan rally. They would have been burned alive if the Florida Highway Patrol had not arrived. Hayling was hospitalized for 14 days, losing 11 teeth and he had several broken ribs.

Hayling worried that he would pay a high price for his activism.

"I was fighting for freedom and fighting for the rights of citizens," he said. "If my life was the price I had to pay, I would pay it. Dr. King and the Kennedys paid the price, Medgar Evers paid the price."

But although he still thinks St. Augustine, Florida and the country can still improve the plight of blacks, he is proud of his work.

"We helped to do something for America with the passage of the Civil Rights Act," Hayling said.

Don't miss these Travel stories from msnbc.com Cheers! Signature drinks from around the world A la carte pricing not flying with passengers GPS could save airlines billions in fuel costs When it's time for Grandma to stop driving | Discuss Top 10 fun fall foliage adventures | Your photos Odd, quirly and perverse: World’s strangest museums

MORE FROM U.S. & CANADA

U.S. & Canada Section Front

Las Vegas is down, but far from out 25 reasons we love New Orleans Fla. bar gives 'having a cold one' new meaning Dale Chihuly opens Rhode Island school gallery Top wine regions in the United States Mississippi museum pays tribute to a King Ga. town keeps Laurel and Hardy's legacy alive Elvis is Alive Museum apparently set to die Las Vegas hopes new mob museum will be a hit Perfect hotels for the presidential candidates U.S. & Canada Section Front   Add U.S. & Canada headlines to your news reader: