Follow the links below to continue your exploration of local archaeological and historical sites and resources.

Places to Visit:

De Soto National Memorial

South Florida Museum

Historic Manatee Village

Cortez Village Historical Society

Palmetto Historical Park

Gamble Plantation

Braden Castle

Historic Spanish Point

Emerson Point Park

Weedon Island Preserve

Sarasota County History Center

Florida Museum of Natural History

Online Resources:

National Park Service Southeast Archeological Center

Collections of the State Library and Archives of Florida

Manatee County Historic Photographs

Sarasota County History in Photographs

Sarasota County "Dreamers of Our Past"

Seminole Tribe History

Florida Maps:

Exploring Florida: Historic Florida Maps

University of Florida Historical Map Collection

University of Miami Rare Map Collection

State University System of Florida: World Map Collections

University of Alabama Historical Maps of Florida

Archaeology Clubs:

Timesifters Archaeological Society

Gulf Coast Archaeology Society
727-367-8381

Warm Mineral Springs Archaeology Society
941-423-0835

History Clubs:

Manatee County Historical Society
941-748-5555/Pam Gibson

History's Detectives
941-746-2035

Genealogical Society of Sarasota

Manasota Genealogical Society
941-755-1270/Ed Gaulin

Historical Society of Sarasota

For a list of other historical organizations in Manatee County visit the Clerk of Court web site

Florida Archaeology and History Recommended Reading:

Janet Snyder Matthews
Edge of Wilderness: A Settlement History of Manatee River and Sarasota Bay

Canter Brown
Florida's Peace River Frontier

Joe Knetsch
Florida's Seminole Wars, 1817-1858

Jane Landers
Black Society in Spanish Florida

Brent Weisman
Unconquered People: Florida's Seminole and Miccosukee Indians

Jerald T. Milanich
Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe

Larry Eugene Rivers
Slavery in Florida: Territorial Days to Emancipation

Charles M. Hudson
Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando De Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms

David Ewing Duncan
Hernando De Soto: A Savage Quest in the Americas

Charles Robin Ewen
Hernando De Soto Among the Apalachee: The Archaeology of the First Winter Encampment

Florida Archaeology Resources:

Florida Museum of Natural History's Archaeology Links Page

Florida Anthropological Society

Florida Public Archaeology Network

Bureau of Historical Resources