TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – While Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon set foot on Florida's shores elsewhere in 1513, Tallahassee, one of the New World’s most significant early settlements, plays a central role in launching the state’s 500th anniversary of Spain’s arrival with the "Viva Florida 500" commemorative events.
The year-long commemoration begins with the reenactment of the first Christmas celebration in North America at Mission San Luis, a national historic landmark and the only reconstructed mission site in the Southeast. The only surviving site open to the public of the state’s original 100 missions, it originally served as the western capital of the Florida missions.