Seventeenth-Century Mission Church Excavated in Florida

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA—WUFT-FM reports that archaeologists from the University of Florida have traveled to St. Augustine, where they relocated a 1677 mission church, first discovered by a Catholic mission priest in 1951. The church is thought to have been part of the Nombre De Dios Mission, which dates to 1587. According to Gifford Waters of the Florida Museum of Natural History, the church was built of coquina stone and tabby foundations, and was one of the largest churches in colonial Spanish Florida. Inside the buildings at the mission, the research team has recovered Spanish artifacts such as nails and pottery, and Native American artifacts. “So we’re looking at the interior of these buildings to get a better idea of the daily activities and what’s going on inside the structure. There’s not much written about the daily lives of the Native Americans that were here,” Waters said in a video clip. To read about another mission in northern Florida, go to "Off the Grid: Mission San Luis."