The mission church at Tallahassee, Florida’s, Mission San Luis in the “Panhandle” portion of the state above the Gulf of Mexico.. Florida once had more than 100 Spanish missions, but San Luis is the only one that was reconstructed and is open to the public. The Franciscan mission was the western capital of Spanish Florida, where Spanish colonists and Apalacheee Indian peoples were drawn together. Photo by Carol Highsmith, 2020.