Since 1993, the University of Florida has made significant strides in unearthing some of the most important findings in St. Augustine’s history. This work, conducted on the Mission grounds, has led to evidence of one of the earliest, if not the earliest, Spanish fortifications in Florida.

A collaborative project of the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Florida Department of State, the National Geographic Society, and the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine.

On September 8, 1565, Pedro Menedez de Aviles of Spain landed near here and claimed Florida for the Spanish Crown. He built the first Spanish fort in Florida by fortifying the Chief’s house at the nearby Timucua Indian town of Seloy.

Archaeologists from the University of Florida have recently discovered the moat from a sixteenth-century Spanish fort believed to be that of Menendez on the grounds of the Nuestra Senora de la Leche Shrine (Mission of Nombre de Dios). Excavations are underway to uncover it and study the remains of some of the earliest European presence in what is now the United States.

You may click on any picture below to visit that station,
or you may use the arrows to progress through the tour,
as a walking visitor would.

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