What Lies Beneath

It is January of 1567. 

You are Juan Martin de Badajoz, a Spanish conquistador skilled with the sword, the harquebus, and crossbow. You have crossed 3,000 miles of dangerous ocean. Along with 125 other men, you have marched 300 miles from Santa Elena (present-day Parris Island, South Carolina), to Joara (northwest of what is now Morganton, North Carolina). Here you enter one of the largest Native American settlements in North America and begin building a fort, San Juan. Charged with making the American interior part of the Spanish empire, your commander, Juan Pardo, undertakes three missions: establish sovereignty over the natives, convert them to Catholicism, and find a route to the silver mines in Mexico, which he and others have judged much closer geographically than they are.

Soon your commander must head for the coast to repel a possible French invasion. When he returns to Joara, he finds the natives disgruntled by the treatment from your fellow soldiers. They are unhappy with the Spanish demands for food, women, and canoes. They are also beginning to suffer from deadly European diseases. Before departing again for Santa Elena, Juan Pardo warns you and the other men remaining behind about the dangers of inciting Indian resentment. This time, he leaves 130 of his soldiers to man the large fort, San Juan, and five smaller ones.

Within the year, the natives have burned the forts and killed all of your comrades except you: Juan Martin de Badajoz. You escape and hide in the forest.

After many trials in the wilderness, you make your way to Santa Elena, report the massacre, and then disappear from history.

What has not disappeared is evidence of your burned fort.

In 2013, after long years of searching , an archaeological team led by Robin Beck of the University of Michigan, Christopher Rodning of Tulane University, and David Moore of Warren Wilson College made an exciting discovery. They found the remains of Fort San Juan beneath an Indian burial ground.

In the last four years, these and other archaeologists and their teams have painstakingly excavated the site of the old fort, sifting through dirt and clay one bucketful at a time. Their efforts have brought to light such articles as pieces of ceramic jars, brass buttons and fasteners, nails, lead shot, and even old bits of armor. In addition to these items, the dig has revealed that the fort contained at least five rooms, that the soldiers may have erected a wooden palisade in addition to a moat, and that they constructed some furniture such as benches.

Exploration of what is now called the Berry Site—named for the property owners—continues today. The Exploring Joara Foundation, which helps support the dig, offers public excavation days in the spring and the fall, workshops, tours of the site, camps, and reenactments. 

2017 has particular importance for the Foundation, for it marks the 450th anniversary of the founding of the fort, the site of the oldest European settlement in North Carolina, predating the English colony of Roanoke Island—“The Lost Colony”—by 18 years.

The ongoing excavation of the fort has solved some mysteries associated with the expeditions of Juan Pardo. Yet other mysteries remain.

How, for instance, did Juan Martin de Badajoz manage to escape the gruesome fate of his fellow soldiers? How then did he make his way alone back to the Spanish headquarters in South Carolina?

Assigned to a nearby fort then named Guatari, Spanish missionary Sebastian Montero returned home alive to Spain. Was he in the fort when the 16 soldiers stationed there were killed? If so, why was his life spared? Or were they killed?

Finally, what happened to the Native Americans of Joara? How did a large, thriving tribe dwindle away in less than 150 years, its survivors to be absorbed by the Cherokee and other tribes? Did they die out from the European diseases brought by the Spanish?

One final note: In 1663, Henry Hilton—Hilton Head Island bears his name—landed on the site of what had once been Santa Elena, Juan Pardo’s home base. Decades earlier, the Spanish had burned and abandoned Santa Elena. After their departure, Native Americans encamped there, some of whom, as Hilton discovered, spoke Spanish. As he explored their township, Hilton also found a large wooden cross still embedded in the earth beside a main lodge.

For those who enjoy playing with historical possibilities, there is this: Had the Spanish decided to redouble their efforts to conquer the interior of the present-day United States, had they reinforced places like Santa Elena and Fort San Juan, had they pushed into the piedmont and mountains of North Carolina as they had into places like Mexico, Central and South America, and the American Southwest, Tar Heels today might be speaking Spanish.

For more information on the Berry Site and the various activities of the Exploring Jaora Foundation, visit exploringjoara.org.