Mission San Francisco de Potano

Mission San Francisco de Potano was a Spanish mission near Gainesville, Florida, United States. In 2007, evidence of Spanish-built post remnants provided structural evidence of the former mission's location. On April 30, 2009, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.The mission of San Francisco de Potano was founded in 1606 by the Franciscans Father Martín Prieto and Father Alonso Serrano. It was the first doctrina (a mission with a resident priest) in Florida west of the St. Johns River. The mission was at the south edge of present-day San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park ("San Felasco" is derived from the 18th-century Seminole pronunciation of "San Francisco").The Potano Indians were enemies of the Spanish for some 30 years after the founding of St. Augustine in 1565. In 1597 the chiefs of the Potano and other Western Timucuan tribes had pledged allegiance to the governor of la Florida in St. Augustine. Franciscan missionaries began visiting Western Timucuan villages that year, but a rebellion in Guale Province disrupted missionary efforts in Florida for a decade; missionaries continued to make occasional visits, but permanent missions were not established, even though chiefs requested them and returned to St. Augustine to renew their vows of allegiance to the Spanish authorities. The arrival of additional Franciscan missionaries in 1605 allowed the establishment of permanent missions in Western Timucua to proceed, beginning with the mission of San Francisco de Potano in 1606.