“On June 12 (1693) we continued northwest and after we had journeyed a little more than three leagues ... we reached an abandoned village of the Choctaw tribe called San Nicholas where I came to preach the holy gospel in the year 1674. Here we spent the night in the hollow of such a beautiful and unusual rock that I can state positively that more than 200 men could be lodged most comfortably in it. Inside, there is a brook which gushes from the living rock.” [Illustration: This form is the result of the irregular etching of the limestone by ground water at the time the caves were formed, combined with the later development of stalagmites and a pavement of calcite “drip-stone” upon the irregular surface. Dust and small debris have been incorporated in the crystals of calcite which form the stalagmites. Visitors like to make a game of finding formations in the cave that resemble animals and other things. Note the wolf head to the right and the Dachshund head to the left center of the photograph.] Experts, who know how to read stories told in the designs on Indian pottery, state that the caves were known to the Indians of this section long before the coming of the Spaniards. There is considerable evidence that Indians, even prior to 1693, had been in the habit of using Florida Caverns and caves in the vicinity for shelter during their hunting trips into the region and for refuge from their enemies. In some of the smaller and dry caves there have been found potsherds, or small broken pieces of Indian pottery. According to the archaeologist, all of the sherds so far discovered are of a late post-Columbian type. Ashes from fires, dead for many years, flint arrowheads, and animal bones have also been found. Several times in history, Florida Caverns—a nature-made shelter—was used as a refuge from armed forces. During Andrew Jackson’s punitive expedition against the Indians in 1818, a large band of Indians escaped from his soldiers by concealing themselves within the underground caves. Again, during the War Between the States, an outfit of Union soldiers en route to Pensacola was resisted by a home guard unit from Marianna, composed of men too young or too old to fight in the armies of the Confederacy. While the battle was raging, women, children and slaves took refuge in Florida Caverns. [Illustration: Nestled ’midst hundreds of pines, hickories, sweetgum and oak trees, Florida Caverns golf course is one of the most scenic in the United States. It was laid out after the design of the famous St. Andrews Golf Course of Scotland.]