East of here on the Chattahoochee River stood the “fort among the Apalachicolas,” the northernmost of the Spanish settlements in eastern North America. Captain Enrique Primo de Rivera built this palisaded “strong house” to check the activities of English traders, but it was destroyed when the garrison was called to St. Augustine because of a threatened French attack. Undisturbed except by natural forces, the ruins remained visible but unrecognized for 250 years, until research by Mark E. Fretwell and a ground search by Brother Finbar Ray led to their identification and designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1966.