Mount Royal (Florida)

Mount Royal (8PU35) is a U.S. archaeological site close to where the St. Johns River exits from Lake George in Putnam County, Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) south of Welaka, in the Mount Royal Airpark, off County Road 309 on the eastern bank of the St. Johns River. The site consists of a large sand mound and several nearby middens. The Mount Royal site was occupied beginning about 4,000 years ago. The site was largely unoccupied from 500 BCE until 750 CE. Mount Royal was occupied again after 750, and after 1050 it grew into the main town of an important chiefdom with connections to the Mississippian culture. The town lost importance after 1300, but it was still there when Europeans first entered the area in the 1560s. At that time it was part of the Timucua chiefdoms of Utina and Agua Dulce. In 1616, Enacape became the administrative center of Agua Dulce, and the Spanish established the mission of San Antonio de Enacape. The town and mission remained until after 1656.