Manatee Mineral Springs Park (formerly Indian Springs Park) is a neighborhood park located in Bradenton, Florida. The park is named after a natural spring at the location. In 2006, the park's natural spring was designated a "Florida Natural Spring" by the Florida Geological Survey of Natural Springs.[1][2]
The park is one of the region's oldest parks and a gateway to the city's Riverwalk eastern expansion.
History
Riverwalk boardwalk at Manatee Mineral Spring Park
Paleo-Indians of Florida, likely part of the Safety Harbor culture, inhibited the area prior to contact with European explorers who first visited in the early 1500s. According to the book TheLures of the Manatee River by Lillian McDuffie described the spring site as having an pre-historic Indian village mound (midden). The midden was excavated by local amateur archeologist Montague Tallent, who donated many of the artifacts he discovered to the South Florida Museum, now know as the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in Bradenton.
A historical marker at the park commemorates the early Anglo-American settlement of the village of Manatee that grew up around the spring. Three Spanish fishermen who operated a fishing rancho in the area guided Josiah Gates, Manatee's first American settler, to this spot in late 1841. The Manatee River area was settled under the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 at the close of the Second Seminole War.
In 1842, Henry and Ellen Clark acquired the spring property and built the town's first trading post. Over many centuries, people who traveled, hunted, or settled along the nearby section of the Manatee River used water from the spring.[7]
In January 2020, the city of Bradenton, funded excavations that recovered evidence of the early settlement of the area around the spring. Reflections of Manatee led that project and exhibited the artifacts that were recovered.[8]
The park was re-landscaped and dedicated in 2022. A hand pump that pulls water from the spring onto a relief map of the Manatee River was added. The park has picnic tables and a small gazebo. A boardwalk extends into the Manatee River.
↑ Baram, Uzi (2012). "Cosmopolitan Meanings of Old Spanish Fields: Historical Archaeology of a Maroon Community in Southwest Florida". Historical Archaeology. 46: 108–122.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
