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Tomoka State Park |
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Remnants of St. Johns-period habitation can be found throughout the northern end of the Tomoka State Park peninsula, especially along the shorelines. Portions of once-extensive oyster middens remain here--a strategic point of land surrounded by rich lagoons and protected from hurricanes by an eastern barrier island.
Documented in 1605 by Spanish diplomat Alvaro Mexia, a town called Nocoroco once existed along the peninsula's western shores. This late-St. Johns period site represented one of the Timucuan people's last strongholds in northeastern Florida.
Tomoka State Park also contains archaeological evidence from thousands of years before the Timucua lived in this area. Ask park staffers about the Tomoka Stone site (with rocklike masses of coquina shell and four thousand-year-old pottery) and the Strickland Mound complex (with middens and burials dating back even further). The first is not currently open to the public; the latter is considered one of Florida's most interesting prehistoric spots.
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Our Links:
Ancient Architects of Florida: Tomoka Mounds
Other Links:
Official Web Site
Volusia County Heritage: Nocoroco
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