How many of us know that Europeans were in Beaufort almost a century before the Pilgrims first ate turkey at Plymouth Rock?  “Santa Elena” (Saint Helena) was on European charts as a strategically important geographic point from 1526 and became Spain’s premier North American colony 1566-1587. Spanish “La Florida” encompassed all lands from modern Maine thru New Mexico.  From Santa Elena, Florida’s capital until 1576, expeditions and religious missions ranged as far north as the Chesapeake Bay, as far south as Key West…and as far west as Tennessee (our topic).  Captain Juan Pardo was tasked with establishing a highway connecting Parris Island to the silver mines in northern Mexico.  Fort San Juan, just outside today’s Morganton NC was one of the multiple outposts Captain Pardo established during two penetrations of the interior 1566-1568.  Archaeology revealed, and artifacts recovered from the “Berry Site” (contemporary landowners), are direct reflections of Beaufort’s 16th Century history.

Dr. David Moore has worked at the Berry site near Morganton, North Carolina for 25 years and currently directs the summer field school. He has directed major excavations at numerous sites in North Carolina including Hardaway, Warren Wilson, and Berry. His work in the upper Catawba Valley began in 1986 with excavations at the Berry site as part of his dissertation research. He is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Warren Wilson College.

Co-sponsored by the Beaufort County Historical Society and the Beaufort County Library’s Beaufort District Collection, as part of their ongoing “Historically Speaking “ series.