St Catherine's Island
- Also Known As: Santa Catalina
- Vicinity: 10 mi off the GA coast between St Catherines Sound and Sapelo Sound
Mission Santa Catalina de Guale on St Catherines Island was the northernmost outpost in Spanish Florida between 1587 and 1680, and one of the most important Spanish missions in what is now the southeastern United States until 1684. For over a century, Catholic friars and Spanish soldiers lived with Guale Indians on the wooded sand dune and salt marsh island that is part of Georgia's Sea Islands. After the Spanish abandoned the island, Mary Musgrove, a Muskogee leader, claimed the island and then Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, called it home. - NPS