Santa Fe Taloca Spanish Mission
Encyclopedia
Santa Fé de Toloca was a Spanish mission
that existed near the Santa Fe River in the northwestern part of what is now Alachua County, Florida
, United States
during the 17th century. It became an important place on the camino real (royal road) connecting St. Augustine
with Apalachee Province
, which was centered on the site of present-day Tallahassee, Florida
. The site that the Santa Fé mission occupied in the first half of the 17th century was partially excavated in the 1980s.
missionaries
prepared to expand into territory north and west of the Santa Fe River. The mission probably was founded by the Franciscan Father Martín Prieto, who had established the nearby San Francisco de Potano
mission. Like other Spanish missions in Florida, Santa Fé de Toloca would have been established in or near an existing Timucua
village, belonging either to the Potano
or the Northern Utina
tribe. A village site next to the mission archeological site may have been Cholupaha, visited by the de Soto Expedition in 1539.
As with other Timucua villages that became part of the Spanish mission system in Florida, the Indians of Santa Fé were greatly affected by epidemics, including bubonic plague
in 1613-1617, yellow fever
in 1649, smallpox
in 1653 and measles
in 1659. The Timucua Indians, which may have numbered 200,000 before their first contact with Europeans, were reduced from a population of 20,000 to 25,000 late in the 16th century to about 2,000 to 2,500 by the middle of the 17th century. After a rebellion by the Western Timucua in 1656, the Spanish hanged a number of the Indian leaders, including the village chief of Santa Fé. The original mission site was abandoned sometime around the middle of the 17th century, probably after the Timucuan rebellion, and the mission was moved to a new, currently unknown, location.
St. Augustine was dependent on food and other agricultural products from the missions, and on labor crews brought from the missions to the city. Timucua Province had originally stretched from the Atlantic
coast westward to the border with Apalachee Province at the Aucilla River
, and from what is now Marion County
and the north end of Lake George
on the St. Johns River
northward into southern Georgia
as far as the Altamaha River
. As the Indian population closer to St. Augustine declined, the Spanish became increasingly dependent on corn and other agricultural supplies from Apalachee. Products from Apalachee reached St. Augustine by three different routes. One was completely overland, with Indians carrying everything on their backs, passing through Santa Fé. Products could also be taken to St. Marks
on the Gulf of Mexico
coast south of Apalchee, then carried by boat to Cofa at the mouth of the Suwanee River, thence up the Suwanee and Santa Fe Rivers to where the Santa Fe rose from its underground portion (at present-day River Rise Preserve State Park
, near the Santa Fé mission), and then overland the rest of the way to St. Augustine. Finally, products could be carried by boat from St. Marks around the Florida peninsula to St. Augustine, bypassing all of the camino real, including the Santa Fé mission.
After the Timucua rebellion of 1656, a number of missions were closed, and others were relocated closer to the camino real connecting St. Augustine to Apalachee Province. The remaining Timucua Indians were gathered into the relocated missions, which became waystations along the camino real. Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderón, Bishop of Cuba, who visited the Florida missions in 1674-75, described Santa Fe de Toloca as the principal Timucuan mission. More epidemics struck the relocated village in 1675 and 1686. Indians from other tribes were resettled in the village during the second half of the century. The village and mission were abandoned after English soldiers from the Province of Carolina
and their Indian allies burned the village and the mission church on May 20, 1702, despite the defense offered by a small Spanish garrison and the local Indian militia.
in present-day O'Leno State Park
. It was first investigated by a local family in the first half of the 20th century. A member of the family, J. C. Simpson, showed the site to University of Florida
archaeologist
John Goggin sometime around 1950. Goggin's students investigated the site, along with many others in the area, in the 1950s, but did not recognize it as a mission. An in-depth investigation led by Kenneth W. Johnson began in 1986. Originally thought to be a 17th century farmstead or hamlet, the site was eventually recognized as a Spanish mission and, based on documentary evidence, identified as Santa Fé de Toloca.
The site of Santa Fé de Toloca was investigated by non-invasive testing, such as metal detectors, soil resistivity
and remote sensing
, surface collection and excavation. Plowing had destroyed some features of the site. Several possible structures were identified, as well as the old Spanish road, or camino real, a north-south road, known as the "Santa Fé Trail" and a cemetery (also one of the possible structures).
One structure was a rectangle approximately 8 m by 16 m in size. There appear to have been two different buildings on this location, both constructed in the first half of the 17th century, with one possibly oriented slightly differently from the other, but generally northwest to southeast. This was interpreted as an original building being refurbished or replaced by a later building on the same site. The structure had a hard-packed sandy clay floor, with a roof supported by posts. There is little evidence of walls, although small pieces of fired clay may represent chinking in a wattle
or board wall. This structure was smaller than the church buildings typically found at other missions in Florida, but may have been a chapel
or the convento (priest's house).
A second structure 16 to 20 m west of the first was smaller, about 4 m by 5 m in size. It had a red clay floor, and there may have been a clay wall forming a courtyard around the structure. A hearth at the south end of the structure showed evidence that it had been used as a smudge fire (used to keep mosquitoes away), rather than for cooking. This structure may have been the convento.
A third structure is less clearly understood. An area of clay, ashes and charcoal may be from the floor of a structure, or simply where debris was dumped. The location is just inside where remote sensing indicates that an old north-south road, the Sante Fé Trail, appears to fork into two parts that pass around either side of the mission. Johnson speculates that this possible structure was a gatehouse for the mission compound.
A cemetery held a number of burials. Post holes and the number of spikes and nails found in the cemetery indicate some type of structure stood over it. This may have been the church (burials were commonly made in the floor of a church at other missions), or an open pavilion covering the cemetery. The full size of the cemetery is unknown, but it appears to extend under a modern road. While only 18 burial pits were positively identified in the cemetery, the size of the cemetery from site observation and remote sensing yielded an estimated capacity of 180 to 320 burials.
A fifth structure was about 16 m by 28 m, and appears to have had a hearth at each end. Johnson suggests that it was a dormitory or barracks. A sixth structure 5 m from the fifth one was about 20 m by 22m, but its use is not clear. These last two structures had wattle and daub
walls, a type of construction for which there is no evidence for the previous structures. Other known sites immediately adjacent to, or within 0.5 km of, the Santa Fé site may also be part of the mission or of the village which it served.
Spanish missions in Florida
Beginning in the second half of the 16th century, the Kingdom of Spain established a number of missions throughout la Florida in order to convert the Indians to Christianity, to facilitate control of the area, and to prevent its colonization by other countries, in particular, England and France...
that existed near the Santa Fe River in the northwestern part of what is now Alachua County, Florida
Alachua County, Florida
Alachua County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 227,120. Its county seat is Gainesville, Florida. Alachua County is the home of the University of Florida and is also known for its diverse culture, local music, and artisans...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the 17th century. It became an important place on the camino real (royal road) connecting St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
with Apalachee Province
Apalachee Province
Apalachee Province was the area in the Panhandle of the present-day U.S. state of Florida inhabited by the Native American peoples known as the Apalachee at the time of European contact. The southernmost extent of the Mississippian culture, the Apalachee lived in what is now Leon County, Wakulla...
, which was centered on the site of present-day Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
. The site that the Santa Fé mission occupied in the first half of the 17th century was partially excavated in the 1980s.
History
The mission of Santa Fé de Toloca was established around 1610 or 1612, as FranciscanFranciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
prepared to expand into territory north and west of the Santa Fe River. The mission probably was founded by the Franciscan Father Martín Prieto, who had established the nearby San Francisco de Potano
Mission San Francisco de Potano
Mission San Francisco de Potano was a Spanish mission near Gainesville, Florida, United States. In 2007, evidence of Spanish-built post remnants provided structural evidence of the former mission's location. On April 30, 2009, it was added to the U.S...
mission. Like other Spanish missions in Florida, Santa Fé de Toloca would have been established in or near an existing Timucua
Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...
village, belonging either to the Potano
Potano
The Potano tribe lived in north-central Florida at the time of first European contact. Their territory included what is now Alachua County, the northern half of Marion County and the western part of Putnam County. This territory corresponds to that of the Alachua culture, which preceded the...
or the Northern Utina
Northern Utina
The Northern Utina, also known as the Timucua or simply Utina, were a Timucua tribe of northern Florida. They lived north of the Santa Fe River and east of the Suwanee River, and spoke a dialect of the Timucuan language known as "Timucua proper". They appear to have been closely associated with the...
tribe. A village site next to the mission archeological site may have been Cholupaha, visited by the de Soto Expedition in 1539.
As with other Timucua villages that became part of the Spanish mission system in Florida, the Indians of Santa Fé were greatly affected by epidemics, including bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
in 1613-1617, yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
in 1649, smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
in 1653 and measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
in 1659. The Timucua Indians, which may have numbered 200,000 before their first contact with Europeans, were reduced from a population of 20,000 to 25,000 late in the 16th century to about 2,000 to 2,500 by the middle of the 17th century. After a rebellion by the Western Timucua in 1656, the Spanish hanged a number of the Indian leaders, including the village chief of Santa Fé. The original mission site was abandoned sometime around the middle of the 17th century, probably after the Timucuan rebellion, and the mission was moved to a new, currently unknown, location.
St. Augustine was dependent on food and other agricultural products from the missions, and on labor crews brought from the missions to the city. Timucua Province had originally stretched from the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
coast westward to the border with Apalachee Province at the Aucilla River
Aucilla River
The Aucilla River rises close to Thomasville, Georgia, USA, and passes through the Big Bend region of Florida, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at Apalachee Bay. The river is long and has a drainage basin of . The Wacissa River is a tributary...
, and from what is now Marion County
Marion County, Florida
Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 316,183. Its county seat is Ocala....
and the north end of Lake George
Lake George (Florida)
Lake George or Lake Welaka is a broad and shallow brackish lake on the St. Johns River in the U.S. state of Florida.-Geography:Lake George is six miles wide and eleven miles long, with an average depth of 8 feet . The west side of the lake is encompassed in the Ocala National Forest...
on the St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
northward into southern Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
as far as the Altamaha River
Altamaha River
The Altamaha River is a major river of the American state of Georgia. It flows generally eastward for 137 miles from its origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties into the ocean near Brunswick, Georgia. There are no dams...
. As the Indian population closer to St. Augustine declined, the Spanish became increasingly dependent on corn and other agricultural supplies from Apalachee. Products from Apalachee reached St. Augustine by three different routes. One was completely overland, with Indians carrying everything on their backs, passing through Santa Fé. Products could also be taken to St. Marks
St. Marks, Florida
St. Marks is a city in Wakulla County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 272 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 299 .-Geography:...
on the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
coast south of Apalchee, then carried by boat to Cofa at the mouth of the Suwanee River, thence up the Suwanee and Santa Fe Rivers to where the Santa Fe rose from its underground portion (at present-day River Rise Preserve State Park
River Rise Preserve State Park
River Rise Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park, located six miles north of High Springs, off U.S. Route 441 within O'Leno State Park. The name derives from it being where the Santa Fe River comes to the surface after having travelled underground for some distance beneath O'Leno State...
, near the Santa Fé mission), and then overland the rest of the way to St. Augustine. Finally, products could be carried by boat from St. Marks around the Florida peninsula to St. Augustine, bypassing all of the camino real, including the Santa Fé mission.
After the Timucua rebellion of 1656, a number of missions were closed, and others were relocated closer to the camino real connecting St. Augustine to Apalachee Province. The remaining Timucua Indians were gathered into the relocated missions, which became waystations along the camino real. Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderón, Bishop of Cuba, who visited the Florida missions in 1674-75, described Santa Fe de Toloca as the principal Timucuan mission. More epidemics struck the relocated village in 1675 and 1686. Indians from other tribes were resettled in the village during the second half of the century. The village and mission were abandoned after English soldiers from the Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
and their Indian allies burned the village and the mission church on May 20, 1702, despite the defense offered by a small Spanish garrison and the local Indian militia.
Archaeological site
The site (8AL190) that is now identified as the mission of Santa Fé de Toloca is located in the Robinson Sinks area of northwestern Alachua County, near where the Santa Fe River "sinks" to become a subterranean riverSubterranean river
A subterranean river is a river that runs wholly or partly beneath the ground surface – one where the riverbed does not represent the surface of the Earth ....
in present-day O'Leno State Park
O'Leno State Park
O'Leno State Park is a Florida State Park located on the Santa Fe River six miles north of High Springs on U.S. 441. Many facilities at the park were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.-Geology:...
. It was first investigated by a local family in the first half of the 20th century. A member of the family, J. C. Simpson, showed the site to University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
archaeologist
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
John Goggin sometime around 1950. Goggin's students investigated the site, along with many others in the area, in the 1950s, but did not recognize it as a mission. An in-depth investigation led by Kenneth W. Johnson began in 1986. Originally thought to be a 17th century farmstead or hamlet, the site was eventually recognized as a Spanish mission and, based on documentary evidence, identified as Santa Fé de Toloca.
The site of Santa Fé de Toloca was investigated by non-invasive testing, such as metal detectors, soil resistivity
Resistivity
Electrical resistivity is a measure of how strongly a material opposes the flow of electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allows the movement of electric charge. The SI unit of electrical resistivity is the ohm metre...
and remote sensing
Remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth by means of propagated signals Remote sensing...
, surface collection and excavation. Plowing had destroyed some features of the site. Several possible structures were identified, as well as the old Spanish road, or camino real, a north-south road, known as the "Santa Fé Trail" and a cemetery (also one of the possible structures).
One structure was a rectangle approximately 8 m by 16 m in size. There appear to have been two different buildings on this location, both constructed in the first half of the 17th century, with one possibly oriented slightly differently from the other, but generally northwest to southeast. This was interpreted as an original building being refurbished or replaced by a later building on the same site. The structure had a hard-packed sandy clay floor, with a roof supported by posts. There is little evidence of walls, although small pieces of fired clay may represent chinking in a wattle
Wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw...
or board wall. This structure was smaller than the church buildings typically found at other missions in Florida, but may have been a chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
or the convento (priest's house).
A second structure 16 to 20 m west of the first was smaller, about 4 m by 5 m in size. It had a red clay floor, and there may have been a clay wall forming a courtyard around the structure. A hearth at the south end of the structure showed evidence that it had been used as a smudge fire (used to keep mosquitoes away), rather than for cooking. This structure may have been the convento.
A third structure is less clearly understood. An area of clay, ashes and charcoal may be from the floor of a structure, or simply where debris was dumped. The location is just inside where remote sensing indicates that an old north-south road, the Sante Fé Trail, appears to fork into two parts that pass around either side of the mission. Johnson speculates that this possible structure was a gatehouse for the mission compound.
A cemetery held a number of burials. Post holes and the number of spikes and nails found in the cemetery indicate some type of structure stood over it. This may have been the church (burials were commonly made in the floor of a church at other missions), or an open pavilion covering the cemetery. The full size of the cemetery is unknown, but it appears to extend under a modern road. While only 18 burial pits were positively identified in the cemetery, the size of the cemetery from site observation and remote sensing yielded an estimated capacity of 180 to 320 burials.
A fifth structure was about 16 m by 28 m, and appears to have had a hearth at each end. Johnson suggests that it was a dormitory or barracks. A sixth structure 5 m from the fifth one was about 20 m by 22m, but its use is not clear. These last two structures had wattle and daub
Wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw...
walls, a type of construction for which there is no evidence for the previous structures. Other known sites immediately adjacent to, or within 0.5 km of, the Santa Fé site may also be part of the mission or of the village which it served.