SANTA ELENA EST. 1566

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1 SANTA ELENA EST year-old Spanish town under Parris Island Golf Course Santa Elena was founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in April This date was nearly forty years before the founding of Jamestown and about sixty years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. A little known and highly significant event in the history of North America, the Santa Elena settlement was a city which had over 40 homes and 350 residents by the year 1569 according to a census preserved in Spanish archives, and which lasted nearly 21 years before its residents were consolidated into the city of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida due to the mounting threat from English raiders at the time. Enjoy learning the history through a 7-minute video:

2 HEADLINE EVENTS IN APRIL Eminent historians and archaeologists will gather in Beaufort, SC for 450 th Commemoration Scholars Conference on April 15, The gathering will also be a dedication to Stan South, principal archaeologist who found Santa Elena in 1979, to honor his legacy since his passing on March 20, A 500-ton vessel, replica of the San Pelayo flagship sailed by Pedro Menendez de Aviles (founder of St. Augustine and Santa Elena), will dock in Beaufort from April 23-April 30. re- The San Pelayo s arrival into Port Royal Sound will be true enactment of the arrival of the Spanish 450 years ago to found Santa Elena and claim the New World in Grand Opening of Inaugural Exhibit titled Santa Elena: America s Untold Story at the new Santa Elena History Center on April 30, 2016 in downtown Beaufort, South Carolina.

3 PROMOTIONAL POSTER

4 IN-DEPTH ARTICLE IN THE STATE NEWSPAPER Read more here: FIVE THINGS SANTA ELENA TEACHES ABOUT AMERICAN HISTORY 1. Jamestown and Plymouth Rock were far from the beginning of America. More than 40 years before English settlers came to the New World, Spanish adventurers created an empire of explorers across North and South America, including a city named Santa Elena that would last 21 years. Its remnants sit on today s Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. Just 6 percent of the historic site has been excavated. 2. Florida is not just a state. The vast Spanish claim to 16th century North America was known as La Florida or Spanish Florida. The empire spanned from the Southeast United States to Canada. Santa Elena was its first capital and its principal city for nearly a decade. 3. France and Spain fought for Native American souls. In the mid-1500s, Spain and France were warring over their Catholic and Protestant faiths. The bitter feud extended into a fierce race to settle the New World. Both countries sought to conquer the land in part to convert native people to their faiths. Spanish Catholic priests from the Jesuit order, for example, created a mission near Santa Elena, but it was soon dismantled when local tribes rebelled. 4. Spanish has been an American language for centuries. Some of the first Europeans to live in America spoke Spanish rather than English. Historians believe the narrative of America s Spanish colonial heritage and sites like Santa Elena will be of increasing importance as the U.S. Spanish-speaking population increases. 5. Monuments can be wrong. A monument on the Santa Elena site misidentifies the settlement as Charlesfort, a settlement by the French. The monument, built by Congress in 1925, was placed after early excavators made incorrect assumptions.

5 ORGANIZATION MEDIA CONTACTS: Dr. Andy Beall, Executive Director Megan Meyer, Director of Development Stu Rodman, Santa Elena Foundation Board of Directors Beaufort County Commissioner for Hilton Head Island Rich Thomas, Heritage Library Board of Directors Media Liaison and Instructor at Santa Elena History Center