GPS Coordinates: 30° 4.658′ N, 84° 10.955′ W

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Spanish Hole

When Spanish explorers first searched the shallow waters of Apalachee Bay they found few places to anchor near shore, but in the mouth of the St. Marks River they discovered deeper water which has long been known as Spanish Hole. For centuries, vessels that could not navigate up the St. Marks River have anchored there.

In 1528, Spaniard Panfllo de Narvaez led 300 men across Florida from near Tampa into Apalachee territory. Instead of treasure, they found hardship. Legend says that the expedition stayed near the mouth of the St. Marks River long enough to build four rafts to carry the men to rejoin their ships. Eight years later, four survivors arrived in Mexico. Cabeza de Vaca, one of the survivors, wrote about their ordeal in 1536 or 1537.

Hernando de Soto came with 600 men in 1539, and followed nearly the same route, believing that he could find the gold that had eluded Narvaez. He did not.

The first wooden fort at San Marcos, at the confluence of the Wakulla and St. Marks Rivers, was built by the Spanish Governor in 1679. Pirates likely anchored at Spanish Hole and crept upriver to loot and burn the fort in 1681. A second wooden fort, built in 1718, was replaced by a third fort constructed in 1739 with limestone from a quarry that is on refuge property. This fort fell into disrepair.

When Florida was under British control between 1763 and 1783, the Panton – Leslie Company trading post was established on the west side of the Wakulla River, just north of U.S. Highway 98. The Spanish regained control of San Marcos by 1786. Occupation has not been continuous, but the area around the St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers has seen settlements come and go since the first Europeans arrived more than four centuries ago.

Shipwreck

Not far from Spanish Hole lie the remains of a small vessel which is visible at low tide. In 1928, a ship anchored off Long Bar, west of the lighthouse, caught fire and burned, according to the late Alton Gresham. Gresham’s father, John Y. Gresham, was the lighthouse keeper at the time. The elder Gresham attempted to tow the remains up the St. Marks River, but the boat ran aground and sank.

The vessel may have been the former World War I sub chaser that had been purchased by the Florida Shellfish Commission and renamed Dispatch. Underwater archaeologists from Florida State University studied the site in 1998 but could not find conclusive evidence that would identify the vessel as the sub chaser.