Baldwin County AlArchives Photo Place.....Cemetery Historical Marker  January 31, 2002
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Patricia Merrill merrillfamily@mchsi.com August 19, 2009, 2:09 pm

Source:             Indian Village Achuse
Photo can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/baldwin/photos/cemetery10536gph.jpg
Image file size: 337.2 Kb

The Shell Banks Baptist Church rests near the location of the first Indian 
village in America visited by a white man.  This was the Indian village 
of "Achuse" visited by Admiral Maldonado who was one of De Soto's officers.  
He scouted the Florida and Alabama coast from Tampa Bay and entered the port 
of "Achuse" before De Soto started from Tampa Bay on the longest, strangest, 
boldest adventure in the history of the world.  This was in 1539, 81 years 
before the Pilgrims kneeled at Plymouth Rock and 68 years before the colony 
landed at Jamestown.  The name of this village, "Achuse", is shown at this 
location on the official map made by the U.S. De Soto Expedition Commission 
created by Congress in 1936.  On an old crude Spanish map made of the Gulf 
Coast region in the 16th century, the Indian village of "Achuse" shows on this 
map near the same location, now occupied by the Shell Banks Baptist Church.

Additional Comments:
Historical Marker at entrance to Shell Banks Cemetery.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/baldwin/photos/cemetery10536gph.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/

File size: 1.7 Kb