Pioneer Life in the Wilds

Pioneer Life in the Wilds. . In 1866, after release from a Union prison, Major Robert Stewart Griffith homesteaded here, building a small wooden house and planting banana and citrus trees. In 1869, two years after his marriage to Anna Webb of Spanish Point in Osprey, their first child was born on this spot. You can see the remains of the fireplace and chimney Griffith built of cement, shell midden, and brick., Transportation for the couple was by water, as there were no bridges connecting the island to the mainlar 1. The Griffiths rowed upriver to the village of Manatee (now east Bradenton) to sell their produce and buy supplies. Their nearest neighbor as Edward Sneed, for whom Snead Island was named., Next to the northern ramp at the mound, you will see a large cistern that was installed by Captain June Poitevent in 1894 to store rainwater. In 1910, Peter and Golden Marine purchased the property. Their legacy is most clearly evidenced by the remnants of a stately avenue of royal palms they planted from the mound to the river bank. In a tragic accident in 22, both died in the river when Golden tried to save her drowning husband., In 1924, Mabel and Freeman Horton purchased the property, moving into the house atop the mound in 1933. The Hortons added a room and indoor plumbing. While they used much of their land for farming and citrus, Mabel and Freeman were always careful to preserve the mound area. The Horton's heirs sold the property to the State of Florida and Manatee County in 1991., (sidebar) , Anna Griffith described her house on the Indian mound in, a letter dated March 19, 1869:, "... We live on an island at the mouth of the Manatee River, six miles below the settlement of that name. We have a tiny little house and a very pretty one for this country, 40 acres of land, 10 under partial cultivation, have 220 banana plants, will commence to have this year about 200 young orange and lemon trees some of which bear in two years. I am very happy indeed."