Located on Little Sarasota Bay in Osprey Florida on a thirty acre land, Historic Spanish Point is a museum and an environmental complex operated by the Gulf Coast Heritage Association. The museum includes an archeological exhibit of pre historic shell mound as a midden, a chapel, boatyard, nature trails, a citrus packing house and a turn-of-the-century pioneer homestead historic house museum (Burnett, 1986). The Historic Spanish Point is the earliest Archaeological site to be listed in the national Register of Historic places and offers excellent leisurely walking tours to numerous visitors who regularly tour this site all year round.
There exists an archaeological record that encompasses about 5,000 years of Florida prehistory. Habitation of the site spans the Late Archaic period 5,900-3,200 years ago through to the Manasota and Late Woodland periods 3,200-1,000 years ago. The Visitors Center at Osprey School is a building that was designed in the Spanish colonial style between 1926 and 1928 by Tampa architect and currently serves as the Historic Point Visitors’ Center. It is also used as the museum’s store and administration offices.
Historic Spanish Point is a composite museum with numerous layers and facets. “A Window to the Past” exhibition provides lots of evidence relating to the past. It is one of the few places that visitors enter inside a prehistoric shell midden and are encircled on three sides by evidence of the ancient times (Burnett, 1986). During the prehistoric period, people living on the bay’s shore saw the introduction of ceramics and the transition from nomadic hunters and gatherer to settled subsistence societies. These people took advantage of the abundant resources provided by the gulf, woodland, marsh an...
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...he removal of invasive non-native vegetation and addition of a proper wetland ecosystem added a more beautiful and unique habitats for local wildlife (Milanich, 1980). On the top of tall trees Osprey are seen perched with fish in their talons while wood peckers’ distinctive calls are usually heard all year round.
Works Cited
Burnett, G. M. (1986). Florida's Past: People and Events that Shaped the State. Florida: Pineapple Press Sarasota.
Brown, R. C. (1994). Florida’s First People: 12,000 Years of Human History. New York: Pineapple Press Sarasota.
Milanich, J. T. (1980). Florida Archaeology. Florida: Academic Press.
Walter, N. (2010). Ground –breaking street painting. New York: pelican Press.
Ball, D. (October 23, 2010). Artists to make the pavement come alive in Sarasota. Retrieved from http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20101028/ARTICLE/10281004.
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In 1991, all shoreline portions of Woodard Bay NRCA, all flat areas within 60 meters of the shore, existing trails inland from the shore, and NRCA boundaries were the subject of archaeological reconnaissance, which yield a total of 21 prehistoric archaeological sites.
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The area has been turned into a wildlife preserve to help maintain those ecosystems. The
William Bartram was a natural historian and artist who kept detailed accounts of his travels in Florida before he was interrupted by the American Revolution. His manuscript, published in 1791, contained adventurous accounts of his experiences in Florida that would seem like science fiction to readers at the time. In chap...
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The Natural History Museum is an extraordinary place to explore and learn. It’s fun and breathtaking! The museum served as an agricultural fairground from 1872 until 1910. The original structure of the building from the 1913 and today’s structure is a blend of many styles. Like a Spanish Renaissance ornamentation in the terracotta trim.
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