Bradenton in Manatee County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)
De Soto Point
De Soto National Memorial
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, December 20, 2012
1. De Soto Point Marker
Inscription.
De Soto Point. De Soto National Memorial. Picture the past as you stand here. Indians once gathered oysters and clams along this shore and fished the river. On your left are remnants of a mound composed of shells they discarded after countless meals. Long after the Indians were gone road builders carried away most of the mound and used it to make roadbed. Spaniards sailed these waters four centuries ago and may have used the Indian shell mounds to guide their ships up the Manatee River. They left place names and some of their heritage. American settlers came in the 1840s and soon began shipping sugar and molasses down the Manatee to New Orleans. Even the Civil War touched here when Union gunboats brushed aside a local guard and sailed upriver to burn Mr. Gamble's sugar mill. Today pleasure boats replace Indian dugouts and Spanish ships, and the river which once provided commerce provides recreation., But time will bring more change. What kind of river will this be twenty years from now?
Picture the past as you stand here. Indians once gathered oysters and clams along this shore and fished the river. On your left are remnants of a mound composed of shells they discarded after countless meals. Long after the Indians were gone road builders carried away most of the mound and used it to make roadbed. Spaniards sailed these waters four centuries ago and may have used the Indian shell mounds to guide their ships up the Manatee River. They left place names and some of their heritage. American settlers came in the 1840s and soon began shipping sugar and molasses down the Manatee to New Orleans. Even the Civil War touched here when Union gunboats brushed aside a local guard and sailed upriver to burn Mr. Gamble's sugar mill. Today pleasure boats replace Indian dugouts and Spanish ships, and the river which once provided commerce provides recreation.
But time will bring more change. What kind of river will this be twenty years from now?
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
W. Marker is in Bradenton, Florida, in Manatee County. Marker can be reached from Desoto Memorial Highway (75th Street NW), 0.2 miles north of 24th Avenue NW when traveling north. Marker is located within the DeSoto National Memorial Park, at the far north end of the DeSoto Expedition Trail, on the beach overlooking the Manatee River, about 2/10 mile north of the Visitor Center. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 8300 Desoto Memorial Highway, Bradenton FL 34209, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. De Soto National Memorial
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, December 20, 2012
2. De Soto Point Marker (wide view; Manatee River in background)
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, December 20, 2012
3. Pleasure Bost Cruising Past De Soto Point
Credits. This page was last revised on October 27, 2020. It was originally submitted on October 24, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 367 times since then and 63 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on October 24, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
