Marc & Doris visit De Soto
National Memorial
Make sure and view our 3:40 Virtual Tour, choose your
speed below.
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Click here to see the 1:53 minute Movie Trailer of the
Park's 22 minute film "Hernando De Soto in America"
NEW -
Please view our 7 minute video of the park's Living History Program.
(Video best viewed with Microsoft Windows Media
Player9.0)
(For enlargements of the pics below, click on the
individual icons)
De Soto Memorial Park,
located in Bradenton, Florida, chronicles Hernando De Soto’s exploration of the
New World. As you enter the park, you will see a replica Spanish Camp representing the Indian village captured by De Soto for use as his first base
camp. This exhibit is open from mid-December through mid-April.
From this spot
you are treated to the same view of the Manatee River that this 16th
Century Spaniard had. On the way to the visitor’s center, nestled in amongst
the Gumbo-Limbo trees, is a large stone monument placed by the National Society
of The Colonial Dames of America which commemorates the expedition and marks the
beginning of the De Soto Trail.
The visitor’s center is
open daily and a 21-minute film on the De Soto story is shown hourly. Hernando
De Soto, born around 1500, Jerez de los Caballeros, was
licensed by Spain’s Hapsburg King, Charles V, to explore the New World. Using
the maps of the day he sailed from Spain to the Caribbean and began his trek in
1539. After landing on Florida’s west coast, probably near Tampa Bay,
his army spent the next four years winding its way some 4,000 miles across what
is now the Southeastern United States.
In a letter to magistrates in Cuba shortly
after landing in “la Florida”
this is what De Soto wrote on July 9th
1539:
“They say there are many trades among the Indians, an abundance of gold
and silver, and many pearls. May it please God that this may be so, for of what
these (Indians)... I believe nothing but what I see, and must see. Although they
know, and have it for a saying, that if they lie to me it will cost them their
lives.”
De Soto and his men spent much of their time moving from village to
village, walking on Indian trails, led by Indian guides and eating Indian food.
The Spaniards fought countless skirmishes and four major battles. De Soto’s
troops were the first Europeans to push deep into North America.
The Visitors Center has many displays of artifacts from the De Soto
period. These include a full suit of armor and weapons and tools of the era.
Replicas of Spanish helmets can be tried on by visitors; here is Ellie, from
Fort Myers, FL, trying one
on.
Beginning near the
Visitors Center, the Memorial Trail takes you through a
Mangrove swamp out to the Manatee River and has a wooden walkway
with informational markers describing the fauna and flora of the area. There are
several turnouts leading to the water
and you might be fortunate enough to spot a horseshoe crab. De Soto Memorial Park is
rich in both history and natural beauty.
Located on the South Shore of the
Manatee River, it is 5 miles west of Bradenton on SR 64,
then a short 2 miles north on
75th Street N.W. to the park entrance.
For further information, please call De Soto National Memorial at: 941.792.0458
or visit their website at: www.nps.gov/deso