Dining Places Slideshow

	As reported at: Sapelo Island, GA (31327) | Condition: Fair Current Temperature: 59ºF | Feels like: 59ºF

St.Catherine's Island, one of Coastal Georgia's golden isles, lies about fifty miles south of Savannah. It is one of the few remaining islands untouched by condos and fast-food chains. St.Catherines' is owned and regulated by the Georgia based non-profit organization, St.Catherines Island Foundation. Magnificent views of St. catherines are available by motorboat. Driftwood lines the wild, white beaches. The area abounds with wildlife and is seeped with European history.

Located on St. Catherines is the lost Mission Santa Catalina, Georgia's oldest known church. The sixteenth century church was begun in 1566 when the Spanish of St. Augustine, under the command of Governor Pedro Menendez de Aviles, began their program of mission development in the area known as the Province of Guale. The Santa Catalina mission on St. Catherines Island was the primary mission-presidio of the Spanish in a line of converts established on many of the barrier islands between Parris Island, South Carolina and Amelia Island, Florida. Initially Jesuits carried out the conversion of the Guale Indians but were succeeded by Franciscan friars by 1573.

The church was burned to the ground in the September of 1597, after a period of abandonment, Santa Catalina was reconstructed on the previous site, it was later abandoned after the British seige in 1680.

Those whom have an avid interest in the Spanish Mission era of coastal colonialism would do well to procure a copy of "St. Catherines: An Island In Time" by David Hurst Thomas for the Georgia Endowment for the Humanities. The work is the story of how a team of archaeologists found the lost sixteenth century Spanish mission of Santa Catalina de Guale. The discovery of mission Santa Catalina has contributed significantly to knowledge about early inhabitants of the island and about the Spanish presence in Georgia nearly two centuries before the arrival of the British colonists.

Links:
The Secret Seashore
Insect Study on St. Catherines Island