Tree Tops Park, Pine Island Ridge

This park provides access to Pine Island Ridge, a core area of Seminole settlement beginning in the 1830s.

The visitor center features exhibits on the life of Abiaka (Sam Jones) and the Battle of Pine Island Ridge, and a bronze ...

Tarpon Bay Explorers at Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Tarpon Bay Explorers present Sanibel's ancient history through naturalist guided and self-guided kayak tours on Commodore Creek, a trail used by the ancient Calusas. The Shell Mound Trail has views of a 2,000-year-old shell mound covered with subtropical vegetation.

Information provided ...

Around the Bend Nature Tours

Florida Native American Heritage Trail

Around the Bend Nature Tours offers group tours and educational field trips to discover the rich natural and cultural heritage of Florida's southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Hands-on programs with replica tools and storytelling are available for ...

Sarasota County History Center

The Sarasota County History Center maintains an archive, museum, and reference service for public interest and research, and an exhibit on people who lived in the area before the arrival of Europeans.

Information provided by Florida Department of State.

Portavant Temple Mound at Emerson Point Park

The Portavant Temple Mound is the largest Native American mound in the Tampa Bay Area and overlooks the Manatee River.

Emerson Point Park has witnessed extensive human use for over 4,500 years with the most striking evidence being the 1,200-year-old ...

Madira Bickel Mound State Archaeological Site

This ancient Native American site was the first in Florida to be designated a State Archaeological Site. Karl and Madira Bickel donated the mound and surrounding property to the state in 1948. The flat-topped ceremonial mound-composed of sand, shell, and ...

Big Cypress National Preserve Oasis Visitor Center

The Big Cypress Swamp became a refuge for Seminole and Miccosukee people remaining in Florida at the end of the third Seminole War in 1858.

Today, a large portion of the swamp is within the boundaries of the Big Cypress ...

Ortona Site, Indian Mound Park

First documented during a survey in 1839, unusual earthworks near the Caloosahatchee River were first believed to be fortifications built by Europeans.

Archaeological investigations determined that the earthworks are in fact the remains of a canal system dating to about ...

Fort Center, Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area

Used as a location for a small fort during the Second and Third Seminole War, archaeological remains at Fort Center consist of mounds, ponds, circular ditches, and linear embankments built about 2,000 years ago.

At the site, bundles of human ...

Olde Marco Museum

The Calusa culture, dominant in the area from 2,000 to 500 years ago, is the premier exhibit at this museum.

Some of the most important finds in North American pre-European archaeology are depicted in photographs, including finds from the Key ...