Safety Harbor Mounds - Safety Harbor, Florida

One of the most significant archaeological and historic sites in Florida can be found in a beautiful bayfront park in Safety Harbor, located just north of St. Petersburg.

Philippi Park in Safety Harbor is the site of the Safety Harbor Mounds, a major archaeological site that was once the capital of the Tocobaga Indians. The site's large temple mound still remains, its flat top accessible by way of a unique stone staircase.

Safety Harbor was an important Native American town when the first Spanish explorers arrived in Florida. Panfilo de Narvaez passed through this vicinity in 1528, but it is not clear if he actually visited the Safety Harbor site. The same is true of Hernando de Soto, who landed in the Tampa Bay area in 1539.

In 1566, however, Pedro Menendez de Aviles came to Safety Harbor after establishing St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement in the United States. He attempted to arrange a peace treaty between the Tocobaga and their neighbors to the South, the Calusa.

Menendez also established a fort at Safety Harbor, the exact site of which has not been found. Spanish soldiers remained there for only a year, however, before the warriors of the village rose up and killed them all. A key missionary of the time blamed the uprising on cruelty committed against the Tocobaga by the soldiers.

To learn more about the Safety Harbor Mounds, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/safetyharbor.

Pinellas Point Temple Mound - St. Petersburg, Florida

Surrounded by housing developments and modern streets, the Pinellas Point Temple Mound in St. Petersburg is a remarkable archaeological site.

Built during the Mississippian era (A.D. 900 - A.D. 1500) by Indians known to the Spanish as the Tocobaga, the large mound rises on the south shore of the St. Petersburg Peninsula and overlooks Tampa Bay. The mound was likely occupied at the time of the Spanish arrival in the Tampa Bay area during the 1500s and may have been the ceremonial center of one of the villages noted by the chroniclers of the Panfilo de Narvaez and Hernando de Soto expeditions.

In fact, local tradition holds that the Pinellas Point Mound was the site where Princess Hirrihigua saved the life of Juan Ortiz, a member of an expedition sent to Tampa Bay in search of the missing Narvaez by his worried wife. Captured by warriors, Ortiz was on the verge of execution when the daughter of a chief intervened on his behalf. Some scholars believe the story may have been the actual foundation for the later account of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain John Smith in Virginia.

Regardless of the accuracy of the legend, the Pinellas Point Temple Mound is an important relic of the days when the site of modern St. Petersburg was the center of an important Native American chiefdom.

To learn more about the mound and to see additional photos, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/pinellaspoint.

Fort De Soto, Florida

Located on Mullet Key near St. Petersburg and at the entrance to Tampa Bay are the remains of a unique system of harbor defenses originally built to protect the area from Spanish attack during the Spanish-American War.

Tampa during the 1890s was a major port for the smuggling of weapons and other supplies to revolutionaries in Cuba. When the United States declared war on Spain, fears grew that the Spanish might target the Florida city. As a result, the U.S. Government authorized the construction of a series of powerful concrete artillery batteries to defend the important port.

Armed with modern (for the time) rapid fire artillery and mortars that could fire shells weighing more than 1,000 pounds, Fort De Soto and Fort Dade were still under construction when the war ended, but eventually became important U.S. Army posts. Already obsolete by the end of World War I, they were evacuated by the army during the 1920s.

Fort Dade, located on Egmont Key, eventually collapsed into the surf, as did one of the two batteries at Fort De Soto. The second battery, however, has been carefully preserved by Pinellas County and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Sites.

Easily accessible by car from St. Petersburg, the historic fort is the centerpiece of beautiful Fort De Soto Park, which also offers nature trails, camping, boat ramps, picnic areas and what has recently been named as one of the Top Ten Best Beaches in the United States. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortdesoto1.