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Sunday Favorites: The History of Terra Ceia Island

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TERRA CEIA - My family has been living in Florida for five generations. My grandmother was born and raised on a farm on Terra Ceia Island. Her childhood home still stands along Center Road, although most of her siblings have past on. This week, I thought we'd take a look at the history of the island she called home and some of it's famous and infamous inhabitants.
Terra Ceia Island is a 1,000 acre land mass separated from Palmetto by the Terra Ceia River. Now the landing point of the Skyway Bridge, this island served as an agricultural parcel for thousands of years, first inhabited by Native Americans, then by white settlers.

Going to the Crap Trap on Terra Ceia was a long-time tradition for my family, but it’s the site underneath the restaurant that harbored artifacts from the oldest island residents – projectile points, or heads used for spearsor knives, were found adjacent to the restaurant during the construction of US 19. Some of those artifacts dated back 8,000 years, according to archaeologist Bill Burger in his April, 21 2010 speech to the Manatee Historical Society.

Around 3,000 B.C. the earth’s temperature began increase causing the sea level to rise to around where it is today, it was during this time that Burger says Tampa Bay and Terra Ceia Bay were created. As the weather warmed it created a rainier environment, forming estuaries rich with shellfish and fish, these of course were harvested by the native peoples. The natives discarded the remnants of their meals into piles – over time the piles became larger mounds. Today we know them as Indian Mounds. The mounds not only contained shells but also small bones of fish and mammals, also consumed by the native peoples.

During the 20th Century, mosquito canals were dug out as a way to control mosquitos. It was during one of these digs that the first ceramic artifacts were discovered in Bishop’s Harbor, just North of Terra Ceia Island. Burger indicates that natives first began producing these types of earthenware around 1,200 B.C.

According to Burger, the native peoples would shape a pot or bowl using Spanish moss, then knead the moss with clay. Once the clay was completely dry, the pot was thrown in the fire to harden.

As for tools, the natives often traded with other tribes to get what the needed for their everyday lives. While they used conch shells and other shells for some things, they would travel as far north as Hillsborough County to salvage stone or they would trade shell for them. Conch shells served many uses like cutting, hammering and even chopping down trees! However, Burger says a large tree might require the use of fire – natives would build large bonfire around a tree to fell it.

Natives also used shells as weights for their nets, according to Burger. He said that the natives would take the column from the whelk shell, carve two holes in it and connect it to the bottom of their nets they wove from cabbage palm fiber. Burger says the mounds not only helped the natives stay above flood waters, but also away from the bugs. In addition, the natives burned smudge fires constantly to keep pesky no-see-ums and mosquitos away.

The Bickel Temple Mound in Terra Ceia was also used to bury the dead, a practice adopted in Florida around 200 A.D. Burger says there was, at one time, a smaller burial mound which was located in what is now the parking lot to the Maderia Bickel Mound site on Bayshore Road. Most of the natives buried in the mounds were positioned in fetal position when submerged.

While the Maderia Bickel Mound was preserved and can be visited today, many of the other mounds were removed and used as road fill in the days before their archeological importance was recognized.

Next week, we will continue to examine the rich history of the small island of Terra Ceia including the creation of the Terra Ceia Village Improvement Association, which was created in 1901, and is considered the oldest civic organization in the state of Florida.

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