FLORIDA — According to the Jacksonville Historical Society, 56 years before the pilgrims celebrated their feast, Spanish explorer Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles arrived at the coast of Florida. He came ashore on Sept. 8, 1565, naming the land on which he stepped "St. Augustine" in honor of the saint on whose feast day, Aug. 28, the land was sighted. Members of the Timucua tribe, which had occupied the site for more than 4,000 years, greeted Menéndez and his group of some 800 Catholic colonists peacefully.