San Juan del Puerto, Florida

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

San Juan del Puerto was a Roman Catholic mission founded around 1578 on Fort George Island, near the mouth of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville, Florida.

The mission was one of the oldest and longest-standing missions in Spanish Florida. It was established by Franciscans to proselytize to the Timucua and Guale Indians who lived along the coast. The area was central to the struggle between England and Spain over control of Georgia and Florida in 1702. The mission buildings were destroyed in 1763. An archaeological dig has been undertaken on the site.