Mission San Luis de Apalachee

Today after dropping Martha off at work I went to Mission San Luis de Apalachee off of Mission Rd. Vincent had taken field trips here when he was at Betton Hills Prep. Jacob, my nephew, just this summer took a field trip here also. With my background in Ohio Valley Indians thanks to OSU and the anthropology department there, I thought this would be a good excursion.

I planned on getting there a little after nine since I had found a website that said that was when they opened. I was dismayed to read on the gates as I pulled in that it didn't really open until ten. Little did I know I would be there well into the afternoon as well (1:15-ish) because there was so much to see (and there was no teenage boy and aging husband nagging me to wrap up the chit chat and move on).

I lingered over every sign (killing time until ten), but was amazed at the peacefulness of the place (yeah...because no one was there yet...actually it was like that all day). It is situated on a high hill in Tallahassee (there certainly aren't a lot of those in Florida) covered with old oak trees with Spanish moss. The grass was newly cut and the grapevines in the vineyard only had a few leaves.

At around 9:15-ish I followed a group of little ones up into the visitors center. I thought maybe they knew something I didn't. Well, they did. Their camp was making a visit for the day. But the nice docent at the door let me have a brochure explained where things were and told me where to find the Julia Munroe Woodward Nature Trail. The brochure was nice enough to point out some of the flora that I would see and warned about poison ivy.

The hike was nice and cool, being in the shade. Lots of different things to see, including these mushrooms and spider. I'm sure the spider never goes hungry, since my legs and arms kept getting bit by mosquitoes.

I loved these little mushrooms. They reminded me of the Smurfs. They were so tiny that at first I thought they were just bubbles or something on the hiking trail, until I looked closer. This picture is probably actual size if not larger of these tiny things. I only saw them on one stretch of the trail.
The yaupon holly with berries is actually what the Apalachee and other Indian groups used to make a tea called cassina. It has a lot of caffeine, which I haven't had a lot of lately. The chiefs drank this to nausea during the ceremonial ball games.
While the plants were impressive (and so was the church...but I'll get to that later) the council house was truly amazing. 120 ft. tall and completely thatched I wondered how it was made. Talking to the recreationist/historian in this building and watching the movie in the museum (which is air-conditioned) I learned that this building seats up to 3000 people. When they were recreating this building they contacted Indian tribes throughout Florida. When they learned that none of them could create this building as it originally was (120 ft. tall) they contacted a tribe of Zulu in Africa who came over and made the building with cranes. Anthropologists aren't sure how the Apalachee were able to build the original building with only levers and pulleys.

Notice the little tiny door. Two burly Apalachee would stand on either side on the inside. You would have to bend over to come in the building. The Apalachee would take all your weapons (while your head and neck were exposed to bashing). Directly across from the door would be the chief's stand, so you were already showing reverence to the chief before you stated your business (or got your head bashed in).
On the inside of the council house the interpreter/historian (pictured above) told me there would have been a 10 ft. fire burning 364 days of the year. The only day there would not be a fire was for the Green Corn Festival which the shaman would bless the new fire. I was a little curious how they would keep cool with such a large fire, in Florida, in summer. She explained that since the building didn't go all the way to the ground (look close in the picture) and since the ceiling has a 40 ft. hole (look at bottom picture) all the heat and smoke go out the top. The fire, which needs oxygen to burn, would pull air into the building causing a breeze. She even said that with this fire burning it would never rain into the council house since the rain would evaporate before it hit the floor. I'm assuming that wasn't the case during hurricanes, but what do I know.

The council house also acted as a hotel. Visitors would stay/sleep in the bunk type area. A visitor could stay for three nights but then would have to leave (you know... for hospitality's sake). The historian said there was a loop hole in the custom. If you left after the third night and stayed in the woods in the surrounding area for one night, you could come back. If you tried to stay for a fourth night without leaving the chief would have you escorted out of the whole providence/area...Wassissa river boundary.

The Friary was interesting also (not as much as the council house). I got to see where the brothers/friars would sleep (that wouldn't have happened during the 1700s). The guy dressed as a friar here told me about life as a friar and as a graduate student at FSU in history. He seemed to recognize David's name (a friend who is a professor of history at TCC) but wasn't sure if he knew him or had taken his classes.
The Friary did have its own cook stove and not an open fire like everyone else would have had. It also served as the infirmary (the friars being the most educated of the group). While the stove didn't have open flames (they would start the fire outside and bring in the charcoal) I can imagine it still would have been hot, even if it wasn't as smoky.

When I left the Friary and walked toward the mission/church I heard Latin chants. I was in hope that some recreationists were actually chanting, but no such luck, just a really good CD discreetly hidden. They did have the choir loft (blocked off so no one could use it...for understandable safety reasons). In the Mission/church itself they had found the evidence of the baptismal font. In the movie they stated they had even found the original base for the baptismal font. Here is the reproduction. I would have taken other pictures (it was hot but beautiful) but it was so dark I wasn't sure if everything would turn out.

The FSU student here was majoring in Spanish. Working at the Mission seems appropriate. She also had been to Nicaragua so we shared stories about heat in Central American countries and southern states (she's from Tennessee and our Kentucky heat).
The fort was just added in the past year. It had replica cannons as you walked in and another cannon from Daytona not to far from the others. On the inside was benches that served as bunks for the soldiers (which got along remarkably well with the friars and intermarried with the Indian women and had mestizo children). They had all kinds of period pieces of weaponry. If I knew more about weapons this might have been more interesting. Again the historian/recreationist was an FSU student but this time in anthropology (a science after my own heart). We discussed the fort and republicans and environmentalism.

The Spanish house (there was a definite hierarchy of class at the Mission) had lots of period furniture and fabric. The recreationist was very into character and explained about the winter curtains around the bed to retain heat and the summer curtains for bugs. She also reminded me that during the 1700s the U.S. was in a mini-ice age, so wouldn't be as hot as today, with an average temperature of 85. A much more pleasant thought than the one I was imagining with 90s every day I've been here.

Monica, the historian and TCC nursing student, was recreating cooking and basket weaving outside the Spanish house. She explained how she was also burning out a log so that she could process hickory nuts. She also does pottery at the mission and was explaining the difference between high temperature firing and low temperature firing (which they would have done in the 1700s). She even has a pit that she uses to do her own firing. Of course I had to mention Mark and his pottery, again she thought the name was familiar but wasn't sure.
I did more interaction with the employees/historian/recreationists/docents than I usually do but Mission San Luis de Apalachee was very interesting. I enjoyed it, even with the heat. It was peaceful and is doable again...maybe not for so long.

-- Stephanie