New France
Fort Caroline National Monument
"After... two months... Ribault made port in New France... [where] he discovered a very large and beautiful river ... Ribault erected a column of hard stone on the banks of this river ... The coat of arms of France was carved upon it."
René de Laundonnière, 1564, Second-in-command during Jean Ribault's 1562 voyage.
On the morning of May 1, 1562, French navigator Jean Ribault first viewed the river you see before you - the St. Johns. He named it the River of May. A day later, staking France's claim to the New World, Ribault's men placed a stone marker - similar to the monument behind you - on a sandy knoll near the river's mouth.
Thus began a race with Spain to colonize la Florida. The race ended in 1565 with France's defeat and Ribault's death at the Matanzas massacre, south of St. Augustine.
(Caption at upper right):
This painting by Jacques le Moyne, an artist with the French expedition to colonize Florida in 1564, shows the expedition's leader, René de Laundonnière, standing with a Timucuan chief, Athore. Le Moyne's caption described the Timucuans as "worshiping the stone as an idol."
Marker is on Ft. Caroline Road, on the left when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
