San Francisco de Potano
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Mission San Francisco de Potano
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| Location | Gainesville vicinity, Florida, USA |
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| Coordinates | 29°53′1″N 82°33′59″W / 29.88361°N 82.56639°WCoordinates: 29°53′1″N 82°33′59″W / 29.88361°N 82.56639°W |
| NRHP Reference # | 09000251 |
| Added to NRHP | April 30, 2009 |
Mission San Francisco de Potano was a Spanish mission near Gainesville, Florida, United States. In 2007, evidence of Spanish-built post remnants provided structural evidence of the former mission's location. On April 30, 2009, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The mission of San Francisco de Potano was founded in 1606 by the Franciscans Father Martín Prieto and Father Alonso Serrano. It was the first doctrina (a mission with a resident priest) in Florida west of the St. Johns River. The mission was at the south edge of present-day San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park ("San Felasco" is derived from the 18th-century Seminole pronunciation of "San Francisco").
The Potano Indians were enemies of the Spanish for some 30 years after the founding of St. Augustine in 1565. In 1597 the chiefs of the Potano and other Western Timucuan tribes had pledged allegiance to the governor of la Florida in St. Augustine. Franciscan missionaries began visiting Western Timucuan villages that year, but a rebellion in Guale Province disrupted missionary efforts in Florida for a decade; missionaries continued to make occasional visits, but permanent missions were not established, even though chiefs requested them and returned to St. Augustine to renew their vows of allegiance to the Spanish authorities. The arrival of additional Franciscan missionaries in 1605 allowed the establishment of permanent missions in Western Timucua to proceed, beginning with the mission of San Francisco de Potano in 1606.
Soon after Father Prieto and Serrano established the mission of San Francisco, Father Prieto established the nearby missions of Santa Ana de Potano and San Miguel de Potano. Opposition from the villagers at San Francisco de Potano forced Father Prieto to return to St. Augustine, and the mission became a visita (mission without a resident priest) served by Father Serrano, who resided at the mission of San Miguel de Potano. A fourth mission in the area, San Buenaventura de Potano was established a short time later. Initially, the four Potano missions served about 1,200 Indians, about 400 of whom were at San Francisco. The rapid decline of the Potano population due to repeated epidemics led to the abandonment of the San Miguel and San Buenaventura missions within a few years, with the survivors relocated to San Francisco and Santa Ana.
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