Mission San Luis de Apalache

Mission San Luis de Apalachee (also known as San Luis de Talimali) was a Spanish Franciscan mission built in 1656 in the Florida Panhandle, two miles west of the present-day Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee, Florida. It was located in the descendent settlement of Anhaica (also as Anhayca Apalache or Inihayca) capital of Apalachee Province. The mission was part of Spain's effort to colonize the Florida Peninsula and to convert the Timucuan and Apalachee Indians to Christianity. The mission lasted until 1704 when it was evacuated and destroyed to prevent its use by an approaching militia of Creek Indians and South Carolinians. The site where the mission stood was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark on October 15, 1966. The State of Florida purchased the area in 1983. Archaeological and historical research continued for the next 15 years. In 1998, a project began to reconstruct some of the mission buildings on the site, based on archeological and historical evidence. Today, Mission San Luis operates as a living-history museum with reconstructed Apalachee and Spanish buildings.