Around North Florida

DeSoto State Historic Site lies dormant for much of the year. The parking lot never fills up and their little piece of woods is nice and quiet. However, come January, that all changes when Hernando de Soto and his army camp there. While this may sound unbelievable, it happens in Tallahassee every winter.

This quiet patch of woods just south of busy Apalachee Parkway is the site of a massive living history demonstration. Demonstrators put on a fascinating, well-researched replica of De Soto?s 16th century campsite. Unfortunately, 2008 will be the last year this is performed. Also on the site is the Governor John Martin house dating from the 1930s. It is not open to visitors yet but plans are underway for an interactive display on the history and artifacts from the site.

This poses the question: Why here? What designates this spot? It began with the story of Hernando de Soto. In 1539, Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer, landed in the Tampa area with nearly 600 heavily armed soldiers. This group traveled over 4000 miles through the southeastern United States. Their exact route has always been a mystery. De Soto kept a journal of their travels, noting their winter encampment site was near the village of Anhaica. This site was thought to be near Tallahassee but until the 1980s no evidence had been found to prove exactly where de Soto and his men camped for the winter. In 1987, while working at the John Martin House, Calvin Jones, a state archaeologist, discovered a 16th century Spanish artifact. At first, the site was thought to be a Spanish mission, similar to Mission San Luis. The State of Florida bought the site in 1988, through the Conservation and Recreational Lands Program, and an archaeological dig was conducted, led by Jones. His team of amateurs and professionals recovered over 40,000 artifacts including links of chain mail, copper coins, the tip of a crossbow bolt, and Spanish olive jar shards. They also found the jaw bone of a pig. Pigs were not native to the New World and documents from the era confirm that de Soto and his men brought pigs with them on their journey. This physical evidence proved the location of the first known de Soto site in North America.