During your visit to Mission San Luis, you will discover a re-created community where Apalachee Indians and newcomers from Spain live in close proximity and are drawn together by religion as well as military and economic purpose. Discover 300-year-old artifacts recovered on site in the Calynne and Lou Hill Exhibit Gallery in the Visitor Center. Experience the largest historic-period Indian building found in the Southeast and greet the friar at the church built under the supervision of Franciscans. At Fort San Luis, learn about a soldier’s life.
Visitor Center
The Visitor Center is the gateway to the 60-acre historic Mission San Luis. Explore the Calynne and Lou Hill Exhibit Hall Gallery, shop in El Mercado gift shop, or watch a short presentation that will orient you with Mission San Luis.
Calynne and Lou Hill Exhibit Gallery
Mission San Luis Artifacts and History
The history of the 17th-century western capital of Spanish Florida is interpreted in Mission San Luis’ Calynne and Lou Hill Exhibit Gallery. Explore replicated archaeological profiles, a three-dimensional topographic site map and Apalachee and Spanish artifacts found at Mission San Luis over the years.
Spanish Colonial Art and Artifacts from the Calynne and Lou Hill Collection
In addition, the Exhibit Gallery showcases period devotional objects in the Roman Catholic tradition. Period devotional objects include santos (three-dimensional carved figures) and retablos (two dimensional flat panels/enclosures on which images of saints were painted). It is thought that similar items were used to create the altarpiece of the 17th-centruy Mission church.
Buildings
Apalachee Council House
The Apalachee Council House is one of the key structures at Mission San Luis. At 140 feet in diameter, five stories high and with 72’ rafters weighing more than 1,000 pounds each, the reconstruction of the Apalachee council house required lumber from out of state and the largest crane available in Florida. During the 17th century, the council house served as the city hall, ceremonial center and lodge for over 1,500 Apalachee.
Franciscan Church
Directly across the plaza of the village at Mission San Luis is the reconstructed Franciscan Church. Learn about the most challenging aspects of the excavation and reconstruction of the church, avoiding damage to the cemetery located beneath the church’s floor where an estimated 900 mission residents are thought to be buried.
Fort San Luis
Explore military life of Florida’s mission era. Fort San Luis, also located on the grounds of Mission San Luis, is the restored Fort San Luis, originally built by Spanish soldiers and Apalachee warriors during the 17th century to defend the mission and its inhabitants. Fort San Luis consists of a central structure where the soldiers lived and performed their duties, surrounded by a strong outer wall of earth and timber.
The Gardens and Fields
Be sure you explore Mission San Luis’ gardens. In the Spanish Field Crop you will find Old World vegetables and New World foods that the Spanish adopted. Smells of oregano, sage, mint, cilantro, tarragon, bay and chives will lure you into the Spanish House Herb Garden. The Apalachee Field Crop produces numerous native harvests of maize, beans and squash. Medicinal plants such as rosemary, yarrow, mint, basil, echinacea, comfrey and garlic chives can be found in the Friary Apothecary Garden. Produce grown in the gardens is used in cooking demonstrations on site and is also displayed throughout many of the buildings at Mission San Luis.
Enjoy shopping at El Mercado, located in the Visitor Center. Home décor, books, jewelry and children’s items unique to Mission San Luis are available to purchase.
Travel Tip
- Mission San Luis is ADA complaint.