Mount Royal

Mount Royal (8PU35) is a U.S. archaeological site close to where the St. Johns River exits from Lake George in Putnam County, Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) south of Welaka, in the Mount Royal Airpark, off County Road 309 on the eastern bank of the St. Johns River. The site consists of a large sand mound and several nearby middens. The Mount Royal site was occupied beginning about 4,000 years ago. The site was largely unoccupied from 500 BCE until 750 CE. Mount Royal was occupied again after 750, and after 1050 it grew into the main town of an important chiefdom with connections to the Mississippian culture. The town lost importance after 1300, but a settlement, called Enacape, was still there when Europeans entered the area in the 1560s. The Spanish mission of San Antonio de Enacape was located in the town from 1595 until after 1656. Location The Mount Royal site is located on the east side of the St. Johns River between Lake George, to the south, and Little Lake George. The site is on the north side of a short section of the river that flows to the west (the river in general flows northward). The most prominent feature is a large sand mound about from the river. A causeway or avenue, still visible at the end of the 19th century, but since obscured, ran north from the mound to a rectangular pond. The mound is on a parcel now owned by the State of Florida. The surrounding area, including the middens and village area, is part of the Mount Royal Airpark residential development. Archaeological investigation