Florida

Here was a "monumental" find I wasn't expecting on a trip that Monica and I took to Jacksonville Florida last month. A monument to the first landing of protestants in North America... Wow! It predates Jamestown and Plymouth by about 60 to 70 yrs.

What a plaque! The first protestants on American Soil placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution". Not sure why they put it up, but it's wonderful to see that kind of connection between the very beginnings of the protestant migration to America and the War for Indepedance. The War had it's roots in the Protestant Reformation. For more info on that topic, see the The Light and Glory.

By the way, this first protestant group was led by a man named James Ribault in 1562 who was a French Huguenot. Unfortunately, shortly after they built their fort, the Spanish who had settled a bit south in what's now St. Augustine, marched all night thru a swamp and massacred everyone except women and children and a few men that escaped. However, as we know, that did not stop the Reformation establishing a beachhead on Ameican soil.

Ponce DeLeon

"Gee I don't look any younger standing next to Ponce DeLeon. The only fountain of youth I'll experience will be when Christ transforms this lowly bodies to be like His."