Native Americans at the River

Native Americans at the River. 5000 BC to 1842. , Natives lived on the St. Johns River , Northwest Florida was home to Native Americans for some 15,000 years. About 7,000 years ago, they began settling along the St. Johns River. French and Spanish explorers arrived in what is now Palatka in the late 1500’s. Here they met Timucuan Indians led by Chief Utina. The Timucuan farmed, hunted, fished, and gathered snails and mussels from the waterways. Archeologists believe they probably used the ravines freshwater source. , Southeastern Indians moved into Florida , By the mid 1700’s, the Native American population of Florida had died from warfare and European diseases. Creeks and other Indians from Alabama and Georgia migrated into Florida. During the British occupation of Florida (1763-83), famed botanist William Bartram visited a Creek village in the Palatka areas, possibly in the “hammock” area south of St. Johns Avenue. He describes being welcomed there with a feast of oranges and watermelons grown by the Indians. , American settlers displaced the Seminoles , By the 1800's, these various Indian groups were known as the Seminole. As Florida became a U.S. territory (1821-45), American settlers moved in and displaced the Seminoles. Conflicts over land escalated into the Second Seminole War (1835-42). In Palatka, a fort was built to protect troops and supplies crossing the St. Johns River. Named Fort Shannon, it was burned in 1836. At the end of the war; the Seminole were either transported to Oklahoma or forced south into the Everglades.