The Lost Fort of Columbus

On his voyage to the Americas in 1492, the explorer built a small fort somewhere in the Caribbean. A construction contractor from Washington State has spent decades trying to find it

  • By Frances Maclean
  • Photographs by Les Stone
  • Smithsonian magazine, January 2008, Subscribe
 
Christopher Columbus crew
What became of the settlement that Christopher Columbus' crew built after his flagship ran aground? Clark Moore (in Haiti near the Bay of L'Acul, where the <em>Santa Maria</em> is believed to have foundered) is on the trail: "We know Columbus built the fort inside a large Indian village." (Les Stone/Polaris)

Related Books

The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus

by Irving Rouse
Yale University Press, 1992

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The ridge had dark brown soil, which Moore said indicated that fires had burned there long ago. He took the GPS coordinates and then probed the soil with a stick, pulling out large potsherds and many seashells. There were three Indian houses here, Moore concluded. "I'm standing in the garbage dump."

Moore sat down and adjusted his hat against the sun. We were at 1,700 feet, and the trade winds dried the sweat as soon as it broke. "A fine place for a house at any time," Moore said. "Lookouts would have lived here," he added, pointing to the sweep of Atlantic coastline on the horizon. "Anyone living here would have seen Columbus' fleet come along the coast. They would have seen the fires lit by other lookouts to mark its progress, then lit their own to warn people down the way that invaders were here."

He went on: "Invaders they were. They made slaves of the Indians, stole their wives. That's why the Indians killed the Santa María crew and burned La Navidad." He gestured at a point on the horizon. "Bord de Mer de Limonade. That's where I think La Navidad is. Samuel Eliot Morison thought so. Dr. Hodges too.

"When I come back, I'll do a little spade-excavating there, at least eliminate it," Moore said. "Of course the coastline will have changed since 1492. We'll see."

Frances Maclean is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.
Photographer Les Stone specializes in out-of-the-way stories.


Christopher Columbus, anchored somewhere along the island's Atlantic coast, upped sails to begin the long voyage back to Spain with news he had discovered a western route to the Orient. The next day—Christmas, 1492—his flagship, the Santa María, lodged in a reef. He ordered his men to dismantle the ship and build a fort with its timbers onshore. Three weeks later, Columbus finally set sail aboard the Niña, leaving behind a fortified village, christened Villa de la Navidad, and 39 sailors charged with exploring the coast and amassing gold.

A year later, Columbus returned with 17 ships and 1,200 men to enlarge the settlement. But he found La Navidad in ashes. There were no inhabitants and no gold.

Over the years, many scholars and adventurers have searched for La Navidad, the prize of Columbian archaeology. It is believed to have been in Haiti. The French historian and geographer Moreau de Saint-Méry sought La Navidad there in the 1780s and '90s; Samuel Eliot Morison, the distinguished American historian and Columbus biographer, in the 1930s; Dr. William Hodges, an American medical missionary and amateur archaeologist, from the 1960s until his death in 1995; and Kathleen Deagan, an archaeologist at the University of Florida at Gainesville, in the mid-1980s and again in 2003.

And then there's Clark Moore, a 65-year-old construction contractor from Washington State. Moore has spent the winter months of the past 27 years in Haiti and has located more than 980 former Indian sites. "Clark is the most important thing to have happened to Haitian archaeology in the last two decades," says Deagan. "He researches, publishes, goes places no one has ever been before. He's nothing short of miraculous."

Moore first visited Haiti in 1964 as a volunteer with a Baptist group building a school in Limbé, a valley town about ten miles from the northern coast. In 1976, he signed on to another Baptist mission in Haiti, to construct a small hydroelectric plant at a hospital complex in the same town. The hospital's director was Dr. Hodges, who had discovered the site of Puerto Real, the settlement founded circa 1504 by the first Spanish governor of the West Indies. Hodges also had conducted seminal archaeological work on the Taino, the Indians who greeted Columbus. Hodges taught Moore to read the ground for signs of pre-Columbian habitation and to identify Taino pottery.

The Taino, who flourished from a.d. 1200 to 1500, were about 500,000 strong when Columbus arrived. They were reputedly a gentle people whose culture, archaeologists believe, was becoming more advanced. "Taino" means "noble" or "good" in their Arawak language; they supposedly shouted the word to the approaching Spanish ships to distinguish themselves from the warring Carib tribes who also inhabited Hispaniola, the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. Male and female Taino chiefs ornamented themselves in gold, which sparked the Spaniards' avarice. Within a few years of Columbus' arrival, the Taino had all but vanished, the vast majority wiped out by the arduousness of slavery and by exposure to European diseases. A few apparently escaped into the hills.

For two decades Moore has traveled Haiti by rural bus, or tap-tap, with a Haitian guide who has helped him gain access to remote sites. Diminutive Haitian farmers watched with fascination as Moore, a comparative giant at 6-foot-2, measured areas in his yard-long stride and poked the soil with a stick. Often he uncovered small clay icons—a face with a grimace and bulging eyes—known to local residents as yeux de la terre ("eyes of the earth"), believed to date to Taino times and to represent a deity. Moore bunked where he could, typically knocking on church doors. "The Catholics had the best beds," Moore says, "but the Baptists had the best food."

In 1980, Moore showed some of his artifacts to the foremost archaeologist of the Caribbean, Irving Rouse, a professor at Yale. "It was clear Clark was very focused, and once he had an idea, he could follow through," Rouse recalled to me. "Plus he was able to do certain things, such as getting around Haiti, speaking Creole to the locals and dealing with the bureaucracy, better than anyone else." Moore became Rouse's man in Haiti, and Rouse became Moore's most distinguished mentor. Rouse died in February 2006 at age 92.

Rouse encouraged Moore, a 1964 graduate of the Western Washington College of Education, to apply to the Yale Graduate School. His application was rejected. "I didn't get the credentials," Moore said one day as he sipped a cup of strong Haitian coffee on the terrace of a harborside inn in Cap-Haïtien. "I didn't play the academic game. But as it turned out, I'm kind of glad. If I had, I'd be excavating five-centimeter holes with all the others, drowning in minutiae."

The rented Jeep rocketed between ruts in the mountain road to Dondon, an old market town about 20 miles from Cap-HaÔtien. Haiti's history has marched over this road, originally a Taino thoroughfare, from colonial times, when coffee and sugar plantations enriched France, to the slave revolts of the 1790s (which led to Haiti's independence in 1804 and the world's first black-governed republic), to the 19-year U.S. occupation begun in 1915, to the rebels' toppling of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. (Haitians elected a new president, Réne Préval, in February 2006. More than 8,000 United Nations peacekeeping forces deployed in Haiti since 2004 are credited with quelling political unrest and violent gangs and reducing drug trafficking.) Moore turned the Jeep onto a side road, and we stopped in a clearing near a river. Shouldering water jugs and lunch, a pair of guides led us across it.

As we hiked, Moore explained the theory behind his search for La Navidad. He takes what might appear to be an indirect approach, locating as many former Indian sites as possible. That's partly because it is believed that Columbus built the fort inside an Indian village. "The Taino built a large village inland every 12 miles and paired it with a smaller village on the coast," he says. "The small village took care of the boats, caught shellfish and such to feed the larger. I mark the map with each village I find. A pretty pattern. I think it will eventually show where La Navidad was."

The guides stopped in front of a cave hidden by brush and ropy liana vines. Caves were holy places to the Taino. They believed that human life originated in one, and that people populated the earth after a guard at the cave entrance left his post and was turned to stone. Before entering a sacred cave, the Taino made an offering to the spirits. Because they did not believe in blood sacrifice, they gave the contents of their stomachs, an act aided by beautifully carved tongue depressors.

A mellow light filled the cave's large, domed entry chamber; to one side, a row of heads resembling a choir or jury was chiseled into the face of a boulder, their mouths wide open in an eternal song or scream. Fierce-faced carved figures marched across the opposite wall. The Taino carvings appear to warn intruders to stay out. Moore has no explanation for the figures' expressions. "I leave interpretation to others," he says. A tiny elevated room held the source of the light: a chimney hole latticed with greenery. Stick figures held forth on a wall. Candle butts and an empty bottle rested in an altar niche carved in a boulder. Under the bottle lay folded papers that Moore did not read. "Voodoo," he said.

One night, when Moore was entertaining friends at his harborside cinder-block house in Cap-HaÔtien—he lives there with his wife, Pat, a nurse from Nebraska with 16 years' service in Haiti's rural clinics—the conversation turned to the fate of the Taino. "The Taino really weren't all wiped out," Moore said. "There are groups in New York, Puerto Rico and Cuba who call themselves the descendants. They're reviving the language and ceremonies and want the world to know 'Hey, we're still here.'"

"The descendants in Haiti are secretive," a visiting archaeologist chimed in.

A guide named Jean Claude led Moore up a narrow mountain trail to a high, flat ridge that could be reached only by climbing three other mountains, a destination recalling the Creole proverb, Deyo mon ge mon ("Beyond the mountains are more mountains"). Jean Claude's brother had found a site he thought Moore should see.

The ridge had dark brown soil, which Moore said indicated that fires had burned there long ago. He took the GPS coordinates and then probed the soil with a stick, pulling out large potsherds and many seashells. There were three Indian houses here, Moore concluded. "I'm standing in the garbage dump."

Moore sat down and adjusted his hat against the sun. We were at 1,700 feet, and the trade winds dried the sweat as soon as it broke. "A fine place for a house at any time," Moore said. "Lookouts would have lived here," he added, pointing to the sweep of Atlantic coastline on the horizon. "Anyone living here would have seen Columbus' fleet come along the coast. They would have seen the fires lit by other lookouts to mark its progress, then lit their own to warn people down the way that invaders were here."

He went on: "Invaders they were. They made slaves of the Indians, stole their wives. That's why the Indians killed the Santa María crew and burned La Navidad." He gestured at a point on the horizon. "Bord de Mer de Limonade. That's where I think La Navidad is. Samuel Eliot Morison thought so. Dr. Hodges too.

"When I come back, I'll do a little spade-excavating there, at least eliminate it," Moore said. "Of course the coastline will have changed since 1492. We'll see."

Frances Maclean is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.
Photographer Les Stone specializes in out-of-the-way stories.


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Comments (24)

I am a spanish nautical teacher from Unviversidad de Cadiz (Spain) and historical-nautical researcher of Columbus route in the caribian first voayage: Bahamas, Cuba and Hiati.I am very interested in interchange informactión about this subject.

Posted by Luis : Coín Cuenca on December 22,2010 | 05:01 AM

In the 1960,s I was involved with the removal of the railroad in Haiti. Having read the translations of Columbus's voyages. I received from the Haitian archives a copy of an original map made by the Spaniards in the 1700's. It was showing the true location of Navidad and the locations of a Columbus gold mine. I followed up with several trips to the area with the map and detection equipment,These were turbulent,dangerous times as the Dominican Republic was hunting Communist infiltrators. We dug several test sites,and found the location of Columbus's warehouse.We became side tracked by a young local boy who wanted to show us the place where the Taino indians hid from Columbus. At the location he took us were many artifacts and I located the indians dump site which had many of the clay heads mentioned by others, There were also many axe heads,and stone tools. The Don or owner of the property arrived and was not exactly thrilled that he couldn't extract money from us.and my new SX70 camera did not help win him over, But the trip proved our map to be very exact. The following trip was made with more equipment to search for the homesites of the Spaniards that left Navidad to hunt Indians and gold.After many difficulties with the Dominican Military. We found the general area we were working in the past to have been bull dozed level by the government,which included the leveling and covering of the Columbus warehouse. bleachers were set up and music playing. A concrete monument was placed dedicating the area.The military escorted us to the Fort at Puerto Plata.Eventually we were let to leave but not before pictures were taken.I still keep one framed. While planning another expedition,I read an article in the National Geographic about the area which I knew was a fabrication of nonsense. But phony as it was, it brought a lot of attention to the area,making it impossible for us to complete our intended mission. nothing has been told of our work

Posted by Howard Yasgar on April 12,2010 | 12:31 AM

We just reread the article from Smithsonian magazine from January 2008 and enjoyed translating it to Spanish. Continued luck for Clark Moore as his persistence is paying off.

Posted by Carrie Aadland and Meredy Fay on January 8,2010 | 05:23 PM

I am thankful to Lourenzo for making me aware of this article. What many people should realize is that there was never a "fort" built at La Natividad. Columbus simply put the Santa Maria ashore and used that as the fort. The Indians later set fire to the Santa Maria when they realized the intruders were not Gods from the sky after all but mortals just like them and got sick of feeding them and had enough of seeing them copulating with their females.
The most appropriate location for the beaching of the Santa Maria is near Caracol Beach, close enough to a fresh water supply and on a location that would afford the sailors good visibility and easy resistance to attacks.
A careful reading of the ship´s log seems to rule out Limonade de Bord de Mer as the location. The ships entered the small channel between the banks in front of Caracol Beach and when Columbus left he then set a route Northwest sailing inside the banks and leaving by the much wither channel that faces today's Cap Haitien.- Manuel Rosa

Posted by Manuel Rosa on December 29,2009 | 04:09 PM

I would like to say congratulations to Mr. Moore and to leave here information about another great scholar who refused to play the academic game and is rewriting Columbus history in a book titled Colon. La Historia Nunca Contada: www.1492.us.com

Posted by Lourenzo on December 28,2009 | 03:41 PM

Why do modern-day scholars persist in calling the town "La Navidad"? At least two contemporary maps (1492 - Columbus and 1610 - Mercator) identify it clearly as "La Natividad". Not trying to smash any icons... I just want to know - maybe there IS a reason. Thanks for any responses. ABE

Posted by Augusta Elmwood on November 16,2009 | 03:22 PM

Why do modern-day scholars persist in calling the town "La Navidad"? At least two contemporary maps (1492 - Columbus and 1610 - Mercator) identify it clearly as "La Natividad". Not trying to smash any icons... I just want to know - maybe there IS a reason. Thanks for any responses. ABE

Posted by Augusta Elmwood on November 16,2009 | 03:22 PM

Loved the article. I am a missionary in St. Raphael, Haiti. You should see what I found. I believe it ties into the "big" picture.

Posted by Harry Peart on August 6,2009 | 09:36 AM

The gentleman that Moore mentions - Dr. William Hodges - built a small museum behind Bon Samaritain Hospital in the town of Limbe (only a few miles from Cap-Haitian). The museum is small and is usually remains locked-up as there is limited interest from the locals in its contents. There is also a small university - Universite Chretienne du Nord d'Haiti (Moore originally traveled to Haiti to build on its campus) - that has expressed interest in developing a program in the social sciences and Haitian pre-history. With greater interest from individuals in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, Moore's and Hodges' work and the work of others could be expanded, and much of the material anthropology preserved.

Posted by Michael Heneise on July 24,2008 | 11:32 AM

Great article, I would like to read more about Clark Moore reserch on other Idian sites in Haiti, Michele Frisch Galerie Marassa Petion Ville, Haiti

Posted by michele frisch on July 17,2008 | 03:01 PM

As a student at Western Washington State College in 1969-71; it was a Professor Robert Keller who encourage us to focus and search for truth. This Columbus search and article by " Professor " Moore, through Maclean is an example of the finer finish in continual education/knowledge, that seekers of truth with artifacts shall set the stages for the re-greening of the planet by visionary doers. Haiti, is an inspiration to humanity, when properly understood; that humans must be liberated from tyranny , then and now. And for the nay sayers to what is being shared, ideas are for thrashing out that we may see and find a more humane course in life. Do we want to continue the destruction of the planet, or do, as Mr. Moore, the reconstruction of vital human links , including, Orginal people of the Americas.As an African, the Spiritual connection is important to evolve the " Mothering of the earth. TAO

Posted by Tarik A. Oduno on April 10,2008 | 02:11 PM

I'm pleased with the article by Mr. Frances Maclean on Mr. Moore"The Lost Fort of Columbus". I do beleive some of the account of Mr Moore, but I have some reservation about the number of Indians sites. Mr Moore has located 980 former Indians sites. It would be informative/educational if he had been able to be somewhat specific as to where some of those sites are. I'm haitian, I'd love to have an idea where exactly some of these sites are located. Smithsonian, by the way is a wonderful magazine. Keep u the good work.

Posted by Jean-Claude Charles on April 6,2008 | 07:57 AM

While an interesting article, there either isn't enough detail given or it seems that Moore is making sweeping generalizations about some of the things he is investigating. And there is a reason for the empirical method in archaeological excavations-- just poking a stick in the ground and pulling out artifacts is not an effective nor scientifically useful process, and only serves to ruin the integrity of a site.

Posted by Jade Schmitt on March 15,2008 | 04:40 AM

I would also like to contact Mr Moore to share some historical information that may help discover the location. I would like to accompany him on a trip to Haiti to look for the site.

Posted by Hal Greene on February 18,2008 | 05:20 PM

In late 1944 and spring of 1945 I was the Purser of a cargo ship from USA to Cuba that loaded sugar at the Port of Pastelillo, in Camaguey Province, Cuba. We were there a number of times. Nine miles inland is the town of Nuevitas. It had originally been at the site of Pastelillo, but moved inland to escape pirates many years ago. Local lore indicated that Columbus had been there. Could this possibly be the missing site referred to in this article? Note that the original Nuevitas is only a day's sail further west(in terms of those times) from Haiti.

Posted by Martin H. Kopp on February 2,2008 | 12:04 PM

Author Frances Maclean's article relates well the remarkable story of Clark Moore's dedication to archaeological professionalism and his respect for Haiti's contemporary cultural traditions and prehistoric indigenous inhabitants. Les Stone's photo of the outlined petroglyph reveals details of artistic merit other illegible. This harmless use of chalk, widely practiced in archaeology, contributes to scientific knowledge and public education. I take note of one esoteric detail relating to the article. Using the term "Taino" in general reference to a widespread indigenous Antillean population group is a recent invention. Accounts and documents recorded approximately 500 years ago, valuable for their contemporaneity with the indigenous people of those times, indicate "taino" was not then used in this manner.

Posted by Daniel Koski-Karell, Ph.D. on January 7,2008 | 09:20 PM

I've read about Dr. Hodges's work in other journals and I'm delighted that a new person,Moore, is introduced here. However,this very interesting article is too short and I would have liked to have read more about the Taino,the caves as well as descriptions of the fort Puerto Real so I could have a idea of what could be found at La Navidad. I noticed that your December article on Aksum and Lake Tana in Ethiopia was twice as long as this one. While the sites in Ethiopia are older, the search for La Navidad is right under our continental noses.

Posted by Marvin T. Jones on January 4,2008 | 12:05 PM

Arthur Frances Maclean’s article “The Lost Fort of Columbus” with photographs by Les Stone in the Smithsonian January 2008 issue has some blaring depictions of un-professionalism. On page 75 the author writes “Traces of the ancient Taino Indians, who greeted Columbus, are seen in petroglyphs (below left, near the Bay of L’Acul). This photograph does not show an ancient petroglyph; it displays a pictograph: a white lined character drawn over lichens, obviating its contemporariness. If someone has drawn chalk over the original lines to ease our view then this should be stated. Of course chalk “improvements” can only complicate the dating and preservation of the petroglyph. The author should state more clearly what is in the photograph. I am also perplexed about the legality of Clark Moore removing Taino artifacts from Taino homelands . The Taino people have representatives visiting the United Nations, they work to maintain their indigenous identity, and they struggle to repatriate sacred objects. I certainly hope that future articles in the Smithsonian include professionalism and respect for indigenous people.

Posted by Brian Dykstra on January 4,2008 | 09:40 AM

Genealogical research into my family history has revealed that my ancestors lived in Cap Francais now known as Cap Francais, Haiti in the late 1700's. Further Toussaint Louverature gave my great, great grandfather's nephew, Issac Jessrun Sasportas direct orders to go to Jamaica to stir up an insurrection to free the slaves. He was captured by the British and hung in 1799. I am interested in knowing if there is anything in Cap Haitien, archives, museums etc., that may have something of interest that would enhance my curosity and knowledge of this area. Cap Francais was reputed to be the richest city in the Caribbean and it had a naval station there. Does anyone know how I may get in touch with Mr. Moore, or anyone, about travel information, health and safety precautions, and any places of interest dating back to this time?? Booker T.Brooks

Posted by Booker T. Brooks on January 3,2008 | 05:56 PM

Smithsonian Magazine has done us all a great favor in publishing this article. The story of Clark Moore's decades of research, documenting an abundance of prehistoric and historic-period archaeological sites and searching for Columbus's fort, is a testament to the strength of his personal character and Haiti's extraordinary and fascinating cultural aspects. The article's author has provided wonderful insights concerning both. I suspect this story is just one of many potential informative and entertaining stories from Haiti and the Antilles. I hope to see more in future issues.

Posted by Daniel Koski-Karell, Ph.D. on January 2,2008 | 08:17 PM

Great job I wish to travel in Hati in near future and I wish to Visitan study Haitan culture and their History.

Posted by Mermolina Orara on January 1,2008 | 12:36 PM

I was reading the article in the latest Smithsonian magazine about Maisel photograhy with great enthusiasm and wanted to find out more aout his work. I am an abstract painter who found some similarities with his work and my monotypes and acrylics. Maybe you can enlighten me as to Maisel's world of art? Also,my compliments on the Van Gogh article!

Posted by Caefer on December 31,2007 | 01:15 PM

As a friend of Kathy Deagan and others, I know looking for this has been an obsession for many. I lived in Puerto Rico for in the late 70s and 80s, and discovered many sights believed to be connected to this. One of them is probably under a golf course outside the town of Loiza. If anyone is interested in searching Puerto Rico, I would contact Guy Ashton, if still at UPR, and get some insight. Haitii seems to lure everyone, but a lot of people don't know that gold was actually discovered in the Naguabo Mountain Range, and believed by many as the lure to Columbus and others. Happy Holidays, Darrel Strickland

Posted by Darrel Strickland on December 30,2007 | 11:02 PM

This article is not only good news for Mr. Moore, but good news for Haiti. More funding and more scholars working in Haiti, however difficult this might be, would be a welcome initiative. Keep up the great work, Smithsonian Magazine! Jeff Boshart

Posted by Jeff Boshart on December 28,2007 | 01:57 PM

Your article has brought me back in my mind to Haiti and in the same spot where Navidad is supposed to be located: at "Limonade de Bord de Mer" near Cap Haitian. There is no monument or any historic feature erected there and yet one feels the tremendous sense of wonder to be standing where the story of two continents met for the first time. Hopefully interested historians and archeologists will be able to reconstruct the scene of the original site as a historical landmark for educating and generating much excitement in both visitors and citizens who might be drawn into pilgrimage to this area. Ndibu Muamba

Posted by Ndibu Muamba on December 26,2007 | 10:37 PM

Great article !!!! I am currently studying Columbus' voyages and the Taino culture before and after the europeans arrival to America and found new things in this article. An interesting an unprecedented journey by Mr. Clark Moore in one of the least documented topics. Congratulations!!! Carlos Yordan

Posted by Carlos Yordan on December 23,2007 | 06:56 PM

Inspiring! It's amazing how God weaves together different interests and talents in our lives to transform ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. As a fellow WWU alumni, I especially appreciate Mr. Moore's note that playing the academic game would have limited his ability to make a difference because of the "minutiae." It's true- academic credentials might lead us to clearly defined professions with clearly defined responsibilities, but how amazing to see life via a more scenic route. I value my formal education but consider it secondary to a learning lifestyle. Thank you Frances Maclean for this timely article. My homeschooled 3rd grader studied Columbus this fall and learned about this lost fort. I look forward to using this article in a reading/history/writing assignment in the very near future. It inspired me, so I'll be interested in the reaction of my students and what kind of impact it makes on them. Personally, I'm ready to go to Haiti!

Posted by Sue on December 22,2007 | 01:39 PM



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