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 ...

Indian Mound Park (Paulsen Point)

This site, now a Sarasota County park, was a site of regional authority occupied from approximately 3,000 to 650 years ago. Ancient people were attracted to this particular area of land because of the abundance of seafood, the mainstay of ...

Billie Swamp Safari, Big Cypress Reservation

Billie Swamp Safari offers firsthand experience of the wildlife and environment of the everglades.

Overnight guests sleep in a native-style chickee hut. There are also day and evening swamp tours, and campfire stories about the history and legends of the ...

Barbara Sumwalt Museum

Exhibits focus on Useppa Island's history, including displays on the pre-European inhabitants of the island from 12,000 to 7,000 years ago and the Calusa, who lived in the area at the time of Spanish exploration of Florida.

The Useppa Woman, ...

Fort Foster, Hillsborough River State Park

Fort Foster State Historic Site is part of Hillsborough River State Park, though located on the East Side of US 301 from the park. Fort Foster is a reconstructed fort from the Second Seminole War. The original fort was built ...