While we know that St. Augustine is America’s oldest city, traces of the very first settlement there have only recently been discovered.

In 1565, Spaniard Pedro Menendez landed in St. Augustine with 800 people. He hastily moved into a Timucua Indian village and fortified their council house. Nearby, the Spaniards began building their own settlement. But, within months, the Indians attacked and forced them to move across the bay.

The remains of this first settlement had eluded archaeologists until 2001, when Dr. Kathleen Deagan found it right under everyone’s nose in the ”fountain of youth” park in downtown St. Augustine. There, in a low wet area, was a well made of barrels, trash pits, and thousands of 16th century Spanish artifacts scattered all around. She even found the moat and posts of the makeshift fort.

Archaeologists had spent decades looking for that elusive first settlement, but with newly discovered historical information, a new NASA satellite image, and good old-fashioned persistence, they finally found it.

Written and Produced by the University of West Florida, the Florida Public Archaeology Network and the WUWF Public Media.