400th Anniversary - The Other One

I wrote about the 400th anniversary celebration in Jamestown last month. I didn't really talk about the settlement itself.

They found the original fort site a few years ago, and have been having a good time digging it up. The theory had been it had all washed away over the years, but actually the site was still mostly on land.

"Ah, a good sturdy fort to protect from those wily Indians , eh!"

Well, no, not exactly. They were rather more worried about the dominant superpower of the day, Spain, sailing in and blowing their settlement to kingdom come. St. Augustine, Florida had been settled 32 years earlier, and so was only a few days sailing away.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, there was another settlement founded 400 years ago (give or take) this year - Santa Fe. The Spanish started putting up this town between 1607 and 1610. In fact, the Palace of the Governor's (as shown here) was started in 1610.

I guess adobe in a desert climate wins out over a wooden palisade in a swamp. Except in the history books.