COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA—Chester DePratter of the University of South Carolina and Victor Thompson of the University of Georgia used ground-penetrating radar and magnetometers to look for the outlines of Fort San Marcos, constructed in 1577 by Pedro Menedez Marquez, the governor of La Florida. He built the fort on Parris Island at the site of the town of Santa Elena, which had been abandoned a year earlier due to an attack by Native Americans, with wood posts and planking carried to the island with warships. This first fort at the site was eventually replaced when the wood rotted, but the Spanish abandoned the site for Fort Augustine in 1587 due to threats from the English. “This work will allow us to tell the story of the land that would eventually become the United States. Santa Elena is an important part of this history that lends insight into how colonial powers in Europe vied for control over this corner of the New World,” Thompson told The Post and Courier. To read more about the Spanish colonial period in the Southeast, go to "Off the Grid: Mission San Luis."
