Historical and Cultural Resources at St. Marks NWR
Home to abundant and rare wildlife and providing many recreational opportunities, the St. Marks NWR also encompasses and manages significant cultural resources. The mission of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats. This includes protecting, conserving and interpreting many important national cultural resources.
[Click for printable timeline]
| 15,000 – 8,000 B.C. Paleo-Indian Period |
8,000 B.C. – 2,500 B.C. Archaic Period |
2,500 – 100 A.D. Deptford Period |
100 – 300 A.D. Swift Creek Period |
300 – 900 A.D. Weeden Island Period |
1,000 – 1500 A.D. Ft. Walton Period |
1500 – 1705 A.D. Leon-Jefferson Period |
1528: Pánfilo de Narváez | 1539 – Hernando de Soto | 1633 – St. Vincent Island | 1679 – Fort San Marcos de Apalachee | 1750 – St. Vincent Island | 1758 – Spanish Tower | 1799 – 1803 Nation of Muskogee | 1818 – Andrew Jackson | 1818 – Wakulla's Pocahontas | 1831 – First St. Marks Lighthouse | 1837 – Port Leon | 1842 – Second Lighthouse | 1845 | 1861–1865 Union Blockade |
1861 – Confederate Salt works | March 12, 1865 Battle of Natural Bridge |
1890s Naval Stores | 1928 – Ship wreck | 1930s – Logging and Turpentine Industry | 1931 – St. Marks Migratory Bird Refuge | 1933 – St. Marks CCC Camp | 1936 – Refuge Expands | 1941 – Newport, World War II | 1953 – Goose Project Begins | 1968 – St. Vincent Island NWR Created | 1972 – Otter Lake Recreation Area | 1974 – Lighthouse Observation Deck | 1975 – St. Marks Wilderness Area | 1979 & 1980 Endangered Species Recovery |
1820s – 1980s West Goose Creek Seine Yard |
2009 Whooping Cranes come to St. Marks |
 Shoreline is different, most of refuge is inland. Very simple projectile points and large mammals found on refuge.  Mastodon tooth [Aucilla River flyer] |
Deer, shellfish and fish are the major part of diet. Pottery heavy, mostly utilitarian. [Shell Mounds flyer] |
Pottery has clay and sand mixed in it and baked. May have 4-sided bases, handles, with scallop or wave design. |
Numerous artifacts found on refuge; shark teeth pendants, projectile points, scrapers, bone hooks, and clay figurines. 
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Bow-and-arrow technology replacing spear and atlatl. Villages are small but higher rate of population growth result in increase number of sites. Flat-topped mounds contain nonlocal burial goods. |
As agriculture develops, villages move inland. Pottery in a variety of vessel shapes with many decorative motifs found on refuge. |
Europeans develop missions to the Apalachee. They are depleted by European diseases and displaced by Creek Indians from Georgia. These Creeks later become known as Seminoles. |
Tired from fighting the Apalachee and low on supplies, the expedition convert their weapons into tools, set up a working forge and make five crude wooden boats. Only four men will survive to reach Mexico. 
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Wintering near Tallahassee, de Soto's men travel to the coast and find the remnants of Narváez's camp. They hang large "yellow pennants" to mark the mouth of the St. Marks river for de Soto's supply fleet. |
Franciscan Friars name St. Vincent Island while visiting Apalachee tribes.  St. Vincent Island |
Fort San Marcos de Apalachee built to protect St. Marks port. Raided many times, first by French in 1680. Eventually changes hands from Spain to England to Spain, then United States. |
Creeks and Seminoles inhabit St. Vincent Island. |
In 1758, the whole garrison of Fort San Marcos de Apalachee, about forty men, drowns in a hurricane. The fort is rebuilt out of stone with a signal tower built across the river. |
Led by William Bowles, a large band of Creeks declare the independent state of Muskogee. They loot trade stores, capture Ft. St. Marks briefly, and operate four privateers (private warship) out of Apalachee Bay.  State of Muskogee Flag |
Invading Spanish Florida and seizing the Spanish fort, Gen. Andrew Jackson executes two British citizens accused of inciting the Indians: Robert Armbrister and Alexander Arbuthnot, a 70-year-old Scottish Indian trader. Jackson executes Creek Chief Hillis Hadjo (Francis the Prophet) at St. Marks April 18, 1818. By 1818 the United States Congress authorizes the forcible removal of all Indians living east of the Mississippi River to the western Indian Territories in what will become Oklahoma. |
Captured by Prophet Francis, U. S. soldier, Duncan McKrimmon, is saved by Francis' daughter Melee (Milly), who begs for his life. Melee leaves their Wakulla River settlement (Francis Town) for Oklahoma. Much later, in 1844, Milly Francis is honored with a metal authorized by Congress for her intervention. She does not live to see the medal or the annual special pension of $96.  |
Due to navigational hazards, Congress authorizes a lighthouse at the St. Marks river. It is completed in 1831. [Lighthouse flyer] |
Established on St. Marks River, three miles south of the town of St. Marks, incorporated in 1841. Original county seat for the newly created Wakulla County. Destroyed by hurricane in 1843. Site will be used for first headquarters of St. Marks Migratory Bird Refuge. [Port Leon flyer] |
Lighthouse rebuilt at present location. Thirteen died here in 1843 hurricane. It will withstand over a hundred storms.  1840s Lighthouse [Lighthouse flyer] |
Florida is admitted to the United States as the twenty-seventh state.  Unofficial 1845 flag |
Along the Gulf coast greatly restricts trade into St. Marks. Blockade running becomes popular. Lighthouse shelled.  Drawing - Military action off Ft. Williams [Fort Williams flyer] |
Salt is a valuable commodity to the South for preserving meat. There are many salt works in the Apalachee bay area. Remnants are still visible today. [Salt Works flyer] |
In March 1865, Union General Newton safely lands almost 1000 men near the lighthouse. The Union forces attempt to cross the river at Natural Bridge but are stopped by Confederate forces. |
Turpentine and lumber become an important industry, while some are shipped by boat, most go by the railroad. [Naval Stores flyer] |
A steam yacht turned to WW I sub-chaser (S.C. 144), then used by Florida Shellfish Commission, the "Dispatch" burns and sinks near St. Marks lighthouse channel. [Spanish Hole flyer] |
Turpentine and logging of old growth timber is an important industry in the Southeast. Old logging tram roads, the sawdust pile on the Wakulla unit, and "cat face" turpentine trees can still be found on the refuge.  Sawdust pile - Wakulla Unit |
President Herbert Hoover signs an Executive Order designating 53.2 acres for the St. Marks Migratory Bird Refuge under the Department of Agriculture. |
This camp is located in Woodville. From the mid-1930s to the early 1940s, men from the camp build 18 miles of dikes, creating over 4,000 acres of freshwater marsh, construct Lighthouse Road, many buildings, bridges, water control structures and much more. [CCC flyer] |
Negotiations begin for the Wakulla Unit with the Reed Lumber Company. By 1938 the Panacea Unit is added. [Wakulla Beach flyer] |
A small shipyard is constructed at Newport and makes landing craft. Stationed at St. Marks is a "crash boat" unit to rescue survivors from planes and shipwrecks. |
Three 100 acre fields are cleared to farm chufa to attract geese. In 1955 a flock of 25,000 Canada geese winter on the refuge. |
St. Vincent Island NWR established on the undeveloped barrier island just offshore from the mouth of the Apalachicola River, in the Gulf of Mexico. The refuge is managed to preserve, in as natural a state as possible, its highly varied plant and animal communities. St. Vincent Island |
Due to a successful drive in part from local school children, State Rep. Don Fuqua obtains $170,000 to fix up Otter Lake Recreation area for local residents. |
U. S. Congressman, Don Fuqua secures $114,843 for an observation tower and installation of boat ramp, two picnic areas and parking. |
Congress designates approximately 17,746 acres as Wilderness. |
Plans are published for protecting the Eastern Brown Pelican, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, the American Alligator and the Southern Bald Eagle. |
Early visitors from south Georgia and north Florida make the several day's journey in covered wagons. At the West Goose Creek seineyard, thousands of mullet are caught during the fall and winter months.  Beach seining [Seineyard flyer] |
As part of the Whooping Crane Reintroduction Project, Operation Migration brings endangered Whooping Cranes to St. Marks NWR.  Whooping Crane flyover |
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