Re-enact colonial Spanish Florida’s preparations for the 1686 exploratory expedition to Pensacola Bay! Get your "orders" from the Líder de la Expedición upon arrival and complete fun questions, tasks and crafts at each station throughout the historic site. Get your certificate signed when you complete your orders!

-- Collect trade beads at the Council House that would be needed to interact with new Native tribes met on the expedition.

-- Grind corn and get a sample of corn meal at the Spanish House for provisions on your "journey."

-- Create a banner at the Church which represents your family or community.

-- Learn cattle roping and draw a cattle mark at the Fort.

-- Also at the fort: draw a map of Western Florida and hit an archery bullseye!

Spanish guitar music from the 16th and 17th centuries will be performed by Charles Santiago (11-11:45 & 2-2:45). El Criollo Grill food truck is also scheduled to be on site.

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Historical background for this event:

In the 1680s, amidst mounting tensions between the Apalachicola Indians and Spanish officials in Mission San Luis and St. Augustine over trade, loyalties to the English, slave raids into Spanish Missions, and the burning of several Apalachicola villages, there was another threat. The French were believed to have made headway into the Southeast and built a colony in Mobile Bay. This was another European challenge to Spanish authority in the Southeast.

In 1686, Spanish officials decided to send an exploratory group from Mission San Luis – led by cattle rancher and Spanish soldier Marcos Delgado – to Pensacola Bay to investigate the validity of this rumor. This expedition served other purposes as well. Western Florida was always the frontier of the Spanish Empire (remember, the Apalachee province was once outside of the Spanish colonial empire before the establishment of Missions and Spanish settlements), and now the Spanish wanted to expand their knowledge and foothold in the Panhandle. This expedition gave them the opportunity to explore territories of Florida that had not seen European activity since the short-lived Tristin de Luna settlement in 1559. Possible new ports and resources could be secured, along with trade routes and alliances with new Indian tribes. These new tribes were valuable sources of information and candidates for eventual Christianization.

Join us in an adventure that shows the importance of Mission San Luis to Spanish West Florida more than 300 years ago. Share an experience with your family or friends while learning what important tasks needed to be done for a community to survive during this expedition.