CD Archives - Desoto Park

Remember the bench from a few days ago? Here is the view from that bench at Desoto National Memorial  on the Manatee River. This beautiful park is 7 miles from our front door.

[photos taken August 2003]

Sitting on the bench at the top of the hill, above and below you are looking to east.

Turn your head and look behind you and you will see a very large Gumbo Limbo Tree.

Below is the view looking to the West....

there are miles of hiking trails that follow the river and around the bay. below photo you can see part of the trail. there is a museum there and grass huts. If you missed the post on grass huts CLICK HERE and HERE

Desoto Natl Monument part 2

 Inside the fort walls.
These photos show how they built the huts from Palmetto Fronds, we have these fronds in our back yard, so who knows maybe hubby will build a hut for his plants

 I don't think they had boards way back then, but that was then and this is now. A few months ago, someone went out to the park at night and burned down the village, it is now almost built to what it was.

Leave it open in summer months and then close it up for the winter. And you will needs TONS of bug spray.

DeSoto National Monument

 On Friday post I showed you the fence, actually it is the fort wall that surrounds the encampment of huts made from palm fronds.
It boggles my mind that they were supposed to be Christians and planted crosses everywhere they went, but murdered and tortured as they followed their path through North America.

Hernando de Soto (1500?-1542)
Conquistador

Hernando Desoto was granted the rights to conquer Florida and was named governor of Cuba in 1537.
De Soto arrived here on the west coast of Florida on May 30, 1539 with 10 ships carrying over 600 soldiers, priests, and explorers.
They spent four years searching for gold and silver, exploring the area, and brutally mistreating native societies, including the Cherokees, Seminoles, Creeks, Appalachians, and Choctaws.
 excerpt from Enchanted Learning.

 I found nothing good to be said about this man.  He was a prime example of the brutality and savage nature of the sixteenth-century Europeans who invaded North America. He wreaked havoc from Cuba to Florida and up through Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and Mexico in his 42 years of life.

 The Museum and Park are part of our Historic Heritage and is listed on the National Historic Register

There are acres of beautiful wet lands and trails through the mangroves and along the Manatee river that leads into Tampa Bay, also called Spirit Bay because Desoto named it Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit).

 Above and below a broom for sweeping out the fire pits, made from palm fronds

Tomorrow, I will show you how they used the palm fronds to build the hut below.

Click on any photo to see a slide show in larger sizes.

If you are interested in the history of the place, go to Floripedia for A History of Florida, DeSoto, Hernando

Friday Fence-DeSoto National Memorial

Photo's taken at DeSoto National Memorial Park. The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is 6 miles from my front door. the photos from the last few post, Down at the river were taken in the park. It is on the banks of the beautiful Manatee River and at the mouth of Tampa Bay.     JOIN THE FENCE FUN at Jan's Friday Fence

It is maintained by the Natl. Park Services and commemorates the 1539 landing of Hernando de Soto and the first extensive organized exploration by Europeans of what is now the southern United States (info from wikipedia )

Coming Soon! Behind the fence.............

                  Fear is the highest fence.

                       Dudley Nichols