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COLONIZING
SERRES 1743 / COLOR BY CHARLOTTE HILL-COBB
Western Florida
This drawing of Presidio Isla de Santa Rosa was done by artist Dominic Serres in 1743.
The Spanish established settlements in both eastern and western Florida. An investigation of Presidio Isla de Santa Rosa, an outpost near present-day Pensacola, reveals how remarkably different these settlements were. By KC Smith
B
eautiful, but remote and inhospitable. This description came to mind as I drove along Santa Rosa Island’s two-lane road from the National Park Service ranger station toward one of northwest Florida’s finest archaeological finds, Presidio Isla de Santa Rosa. I was traversing the western end of a 50mile-long barrier island that is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Protected and pristine, this landscape nonetheless is rearranged regularly by tropical storms and occasional hurricanes that make landfall on the narrow spit. Santa Rosa Island is a haven for nesting birds, nature lovers, sunbathers, and anglers, but 250 years ago, its western tip was home to a determined outpost trying to secure another foothold in Spain’s northern dominion of La Florida. As I motored along, enchanted by the exotic but harsh landscape, I asked myself, “What would cause anyone to settle here?” A short walk through scrubby under26
brush led to a clearing where staff, students, and volunteers from the University of West Florida’s (UWF) Archaeology Institute worked under a tent city that protected excavation units and field crews from the blistering sunshine and regular rainfall. I was greeted by Judith Bense, the director of the Archaeology Institute and the project’s principal investigator. For 25 years, her research in Florida’s western panhandle has helped to explain the cultures—native, Spanish, French, British, and U.S.—that have occupied the area. Bense calls Presidio Isla de Santa Rosa the “crown jewel” of the three fortified frontier settlements that protected Spanish West Florida from French intrusion between 1698 and 1763. “The site had a very dynamic and rich history. It was destroyed by a catastrophic hurricane, immediately abandoned, and left virtually untouched until modern times,” said Bense. “It was the largest Hispanic colonial settlement on the Gulf.” spring • 2005
