BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) - More than four centuries ago the first capital of colonial Spanish Florida was established, not in Florida, but in what is now South Carolina. This month marks the 450th anniversary of the founding of Santa Elena, established on what is now Parris Island.
The settlement was established after the Spanish drove off an incipient French settlement in the days when colonial powers were vying for control of the New World.
A seminar on Friday in Beaufort discusses the importance of Santa Elena, the location of which was rediscovered in the 1970s.
Later this month a replica of a Spanish galleon of the era docks in Port Royal and an exhibit about the settlement opens at the new Santa Elena History Center in downtown Beaufort.