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The Excavation of Santa Elena, A Spanish Town on Parris Island, S.C.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2010

Paul E. Hoffman
Paul E. Hoffman
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
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Extract

The town of Santa Elena was founded by the Spanish in 1566 and occupied by them until 1587 except for the period August 1576 to July 1577. At one time (1572–74) it was the designated capital of Spanish Florida and the residence of the wife and two daughters and sons-in-law of D.Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Adelantado of Florida. Its population prior to 1576 had more farmer-settlers than did St. Augustine and its garrison was sometimes larger than that in its better known sister. From those heights it fell into such complete oblivion that only a few scholars knew that it had been located on the southeastern end of Parris Island, and even they were not certain that anything survived save the partial remains of one of its forts.

Type
Articles
Information
Itinerario , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , March 1985 , pp. 113 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 1985

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References

Notes

1. Hoffman, Paul E., “Sixteenth Century Fortifications on Parris Island, South Carolina” (Typescript for the National Geographic Magazine; Baton Rouge, 1978), 5–7.Google Scholar

2. George H. Osterhout, “After Three Hundred and Fifty Years - Being the Story of Charles' Fort, Built by Jean Ribault in 1562 on What is Now Known as Parris Island, South Carolina”, The Marine Corps Gazette, (June 1923), 107–08.

3. Connor, Jeanette T. (trans, and ed.), Colonial Records of Spanish Florida: Letters and Reports of Governors and Secular Persons.… 2 vols. Deland, Florida State Historical Society, 1925–30Google Scholar; Ross, Mary, “The Spanish Settlement of Santa Elena (Port Royal) in 1578”, Georgia Historical Quarterly, IX (1925), 352–79.Google Scholar

4. Admiral of France, Gaspard de Coligny's, motives in sponsoring the Ribault voyages are usually understood to have had a haven for Huguenots in mind, but the evidence for this is slender and must be compared to that for a politique-like policy of colonization as a way of uniting Frenchmen of various religious communions.

5. Osterhout, George H., “The Site of the French and Spanish Forts in Port Royal Sound,” Huguenot Society of South Carolina, Transactions, No. 41 (1936), 34.Google Scholar

6. Albert Manucy, “Report on Relics From 1923 Excavation of Fortification Site on Parris Island, South Carolina”, Typescript, St. Augustine, 1957, copy on file at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, St. Augustine.

7. Stanley South, The Search for Santa Elena on Parris Island, South Carolina. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Research Manuscript Series No. 150, Columbia, S.C., 1980.

8. South, The Search for Santa Elena reports on the work in July 1979; Stanley South, The Discovery of Santa Elena (Institute of Archaeology, University of South Carolina, Research Manuscript Series 165; Columbia, S.C. 1980), reports on work undertaken in the fall of 1979; South, Exploring Santa Elena 1981 (Research Manuscript Series 18.4; Columbia, S.C., (1982) covers the program for 1981. South, Revealing Santa Elena 1982 (Research Manuscript Series 188; Columbia S.C., 1983) covers that year; South, Testing Archeological Sampling Methods at Fort San Felipe 1983 (Research Manuscript Series 190; Columbia S.C., 1984) covers 1983. The report on work in the spring of 1984 is being prepared.

9. South, Exploring Santa Elena, figures 16a, and 18a.