Buried just beneath the red clay soil of the Tallahassee hills lies the remains of almost a dozen thriving Spanish Catholic missions.

Shortly after the founding of St. Augustine in 1565, missions were established along the Atlantic coastal plain and westward into north Florida. In 1633, Pedro Muñoz and Francisco Martínez launched a formal mission effort in Apalachee Province. There was a chain of missions between St. Augustine and Tallahassee, ending at San Luis, the largest of these missions.

The village that Spaniards called San Luis was always a prominent entity in Apalachee Province. It first appeared in the historical record as the capital village called Anhaica where de Soto wintered in 1539-40. Anhaica contained more than fifteen hundred Indian and Spanish residents. While the size of most other Apalachee missions declined sharply over the years, the population of San Luis increased.

In Anhaica, huge public buildings ringed a circular plaza, including a fort, church, friary, and an Indian council house and a chief's house, each built in their traditional style. Based on archaeological and historical research, the fort, church, council house, castillo, and other areas of San Luis have been reconstructed.

Indian and Spanish living areas were just off the plaza. Archaeologist Bonnie McEwan has discovered the remnants of many of the huge structures on the plaza, Spanish houses, and the remains of daily life.

Surprisingly, it seems that the Spanish had many of the comforts of life and grew wealthy. Artifacts in their homes reveal that they had many expensive imported items from Spain, such as olive oil, olives, wine, and jewelry.

San Luis was also the only settlement beyond St. Augustine and Pensacola to have a significant European population. Several hundred Spaniards resided there by the end of the 17th century, almost all of whom were related to Spaniards in St. Augustine. This is significant since it is the only mission with a Spanish village where the native population had sustained contact with a range of Spaniards (rather than a single friar) and negotiated power-sharing over the course of nearly three generations.

Unlike its predominantly Spanish counterpart settlement in St. Augustine, the cultural landscape of San Luis was a true amalgamation of Spanish and Native American traditions, revealing many of the moderate approaches to colonization.

Exhibits and living history demonstrations give visitors a sense of daily life at a Spanish colonial mission in Florida at this National Historic Landmark.

Information provided by Visit Florida, the Florida Division of Historical Resources, and Dr. Judy Bense of the UWF Archaeology Institute and Florida Public Archaeology Network.