In the afternoon we decided to go on an outing to a new museum for the kids and one that myself and the husband had not been to in awhile and that was the Mission San Luis. The Mission San Luis is a living history museum that depicts a setting where Apalachee Indians and Spaniards lived together in one area. They each had their own living quarters, but they were in close proximity to each other. The buildings on site that would have existed back when the mission was in full swing have been recreated. The reason for this is because when the British began invading and they moved to start taking over the Spanish missions in Florida the mission was burned by the Spanish and the Apalachee Indians and abandoned two days before the British arrived to keep it from falling into British hands.
Most people may not have visited a living history museum, and for those who haven't a living history museum is one where there are re-enactments and people in costume on site each day to provide information regarding life on the mission. When I asked one of the people in costume how they knew what the Apalachee structures and other buildings looked like I was told that even though they burned the buildings there was still an outline and remnants of the foundation in the ground. The Spanish also kept very detailed records of the structures, especially the Apalachee Council House; which will be discussed later. One of the interesting facts that I learned while visiting the museum is that back when there were actually people living in the mission they used to bury the dead underneath the church. So when I found that out I asked the person who was in his friar costume by the church about it and he told me that yes they did that and that the remains of those who were buried there were still in the ground. When they reconstructed the church they moved it from its original site so that the remains would not be disturbed and visitors would not be walking over them. He showed me the general direction in which the remains lied and I thought that was very intriguing.
One of the more massive structures recreated was the Apalachee Indians Council House. If you look on the Mission San Luis website it tells you that the council house was over 140 feet in diameter, five stories high, and had 72' rafters that weighed more than 1000 pounds each. Just think about how much skill it must have taken the Apalachee to build this structure, pictured above, during a time when there were no automated tools or large cranes to lift the heavy objects. To see it in a picture is one thing but to see it in person it is astonishing view how large it was and how much room there was on the inside. The interior of the structure could hold a few thousand people and in the one recreated at the mission site there are various artifacts and things on display (some pictured below) that would have been used at the time.
While we visited the mission we decided to go walking on a trail that was on site. Before we started walking on the trail we were greeted with a couple of signs (pictured above); one that warned us about staying away from wildlife and one that made mention of snakes and mosquitoes. That is not a very welcoming sign if you want people to take the plunge and walk the trail, but at least they are being truthful. We went on our walk and it was not like the trails we have walked before. It was much smaller and we actually had to push the tree branches out of our way a few times. While walking the trail we saw some old brick structures (pictured below), or at least what was left of them, that looked like they were there for a very long time. I don't know what they were used for, but you could tell the way the trees grew around them and the way the bricks looked that they had to be hundreds of years old. I am no expert of course so don't take my word for it... go and see for yourself.
When we first arrived at Mission San Luis I didn't quite know what to expect. I wasn't sure if I would still like it since they built a new visitor's center or if the kids would even like it, but it turned out to be a great afternoon and we were there for a couple of hours. After we left the mission we went home to eat. We went to the museum without having lunch; only a snack. Naturally we were all starving so we made a quick stop at the store to pick up a couple of items then proceed home to have something to eat. The rest of our day was pretty much average. Since it was technically the weekend I let the boys stay up late, but I made sure to let them know that after Friday they couldn't stay up as late as they wanted anymore because school was going to start back in a few days and their body had to adjust back to the normal schedule we keep.
