It may seem surprising, but Spanish Florida’s first capital was Santa Elena on Parris Island in today’s South Carolina.
We know Parris Island for the Marine boot camp there. But, in 1566, the year after St. Augustine was established, Pedro Menéndez founded another Spanish colony named Santa Elena - with a fort and community of hundreds of Spanish settlers. The capital was a formal town of homes along streets, surrounded by farms and fruit orchards. But the Natives resisted their intrusion and burned the place to the ground twice.
Archaeologists found Santa Elena under the Marine’s golf course including three forts and the town. Theforts were stockades with moats around large blockhouses. Families lived in traditional Spanish houses and their refuse reveals how they lived including their food, pottery, hardware, weapons, clothing and personal and religious ornaments.
Although Florida’s first capital lasted only 21 years, it was the beginning of the Florida we know today.
