Florida Public Archaeology Network - Central Region

So we're doing a 90s Summer?
As a Heritage Monitoring Scout, you can:.

>Hit the road with a radio-recorded mixtape (we're talking TLC, Ace of Base, Notorious B.I.G., Nirvana — no skips)
>Pack your cooler with Capri Suns and bologna sandwiches
>Spend ALL DAY outside like your mom just kicked you out after breakfast
>Visit historic cemeteries and archaeological sites across Florida
>Actually contribute real data that helps protect these places for the future!

Nowhere to be. All day to get there--Same energy, way more purpose.

Become a Heritage Monitoring Scout and spend your summer outside doing something that actually matters! Learn more/sign up here: https://www.fpan.us/training-courses/hms-florida/

We had such a good time talking Florida folk with everyone at the Florida Folk Festival! Our exhibit highlighting some of the lesser heard voices from British Colonial Florida sparked some great conversations, and I've got a long list of book recommendations to start reading through--thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!

There was plenty that we couldn't squeeze into the limited space or that just didn't fit into the story, but we wanted to share anyways... so for , here's one of the most stunningly detailed, gorgeously rendered records of St. Augustine and the surrounding area that has ever graced our eyeballs.

Drawn by Justly Watson in 1743, this colorful map--recorded for the King of England during the first Spanish colonial era-- details the landscape between the Mosquito River (now the Halifax River) and Fort William at the mouth of the St. Johns. Ft. William is recorded where Ft. George would have stood, and honestly I have no idea why the name difference.

This map illustrated the city of St. Augustine and its fortifications, flanked by two 'Indian Towns,' mission towns acting as places of refuge for Native populations displaced by colonialist forces. The 'Negro Fort,' Ft. Mose, would have been actively in use at the time of this mapping and would continue to be a sanctuary for Africans seeking liberation from slavery for 20 more years.

All of this and a trompe l'oeil, oh my!

For more on the the Native peoples' mission towns check out this great story map by the City of St. Augustine Historic Preservation Division: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e62e9bf65f2340599671150dc735dee3

You can mo-say on over to Fort Mose Historical Society for answers to your Ft. Mose questions

And thanks to American Revolutionary Geographies Online (ARGO) for making these amazing records available online in super high resolution. Yall are doing the most and I love you for it. This map and more can be found at https://www.argomaps.org/

Come by our tent at the Florida Folk Festival this weekend and say hey!

Only 3 days until the 74th Annual Florida Folk Festival! Get ready for an unforgettable Memorial Day Weekend filled with live music, dancing, storytelling, folklife demonstrations, traditional arts, delicious food, workshops, jam sessions, and family fun beneath the oaks along the Suwannee River.

Join us in White Springs as we celebrate Florida’s rich cultural traditions and the people who keep them alive.

📅 May 22–24, 2026
📍 Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, 11016 Lillian Saunders Dr, White Springs, FL 32096
🎟 Purchase tickets at floridafolkfestival.com

Big congratulations to Madison Clark on successfully earning her MA in Anthropology from UF! Madison-seen here looking like the focus in a renaissance painting, reached out to us with ideas for a public archaeology project focusing on historic cemetery preservation, which she skillfully crafted into her master’s capstone project “Sacred Ground, Shared Heritage: a case study in community centered public archaeology and the preservation of historic cemeteries.” Keep an eye on this one—shes got the passion and determination needed to do big, big things!

Floridians share a colorful history-- from the black, white, red and blue hues the Calusa painted their masks to the indigo-blue doorways and porches of the Gullah/Geechee and the Caribbean influenced pastel houses along the coasts.

But our vibrant collective history is at risk of being washed out--whether its by wildfire, hurricanes (June 1!) sea level rise, development... you name it, it's out to steal our shine! This is where we need YOUR help...

Heritage Monitoring Scouts (HMS) Florida is a community science initiative dedicated to safeguarding Florida’s cultural heritage. Scouts visit historic cemeteries, structures and archaeological sites to monitor and record changes and threats. Scouts are like our cultural heritage color guard!

How do you become a scout?
💥Register for the training here: https://www.fpan.us/training-courses/hms-florida/
💥Complete the online training (its a total of 5 hours, but done totally at your leisure)
💥Get out there and monitor! You can head out on your own or join us at a scout meetup

Hurricane season is just a few weeks away-- no pressure of course (jk jk, lots of pressure) so lets get monitoring!

Anyone can become a scout and help protect against the erasure of our colorful history. Hope to see you in the field!

What a perfect evening at ! If you haven’t visited but have been meaning to, GO! This place is beautiful and peaceful and there is compassion and thought put into every single molecule of work that they do. Thank you April, for being the best host, and thank you Cemetery Club folks, new and old, who showed up!

We’ll see you tonight for Cemetery Club at !

Here’s some info and directions from them:

“Directions to the cemetery can be found here (I’ll put the link in our bio) or by entering our address below. We encourage visitors to bring water and dress appropriately for the outdoors and wear closed-toed shoes. Ticks and mosquitos are seasonally prevalent. Leashed dogs are permitted.

Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery
7204 SE County Road 234
Gainesville, FL 32641

When you turn off of CR 234 into our driveway, there will be a fork in the road and you will keep right down Cemetery Lane for a half mile until you reach the kiosk. You can park in the designated area on the left side of the road and our staff will meet you with a golf cart.

If you have any trouble finding the cemetery, please call our cell phone at (352) 317-7307.”

See you at the cemetery!

Cemetery Club is tonight at Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery! Here is a bit of info from them:

Directions to the cemetery can be found here:

https://www.prairiecreekconservationcemetery.org/directions-and-visitor-guide

or by entering our address below. We encourage visitors to bring water and dress appropriately for the outdoors and wear closed-toed shoes. Ticks and mosquitos are seasonally prevalent. Leashed dogs are permitted.

Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery
7204 SE County Road 234
Gainesville, FL 32641

When you turn off of CR 234 into our driveway, there will be a fork in the road and you will keep right down Cemetery Lane for a half mile until you reach the kiosk. You can park in the designated area on the left side of the road and our staff will meet you with a golf cart.

If you have any trouble finding the cemetery, please call our cell phone at (352) 317-7307.

See you at 6!

Alachua County has been extra flammable this week, and we are incredibly grateful to all the folks out here fighting these fires! Florida Forest Service - Waccasassa Forestry Center, Gainesville Fire Rescue, Alachua County Fire Rescue, the FD's in Melrose and Windsor, we hope you get some rest soon!

Here are some historic Florida fire fighting photos we dug up:

Lookout Tower c. 1930- there's a note with this one that reads "Rangers would often be on duty for several days, riding a horse to the site and living in the shed." I don't wanna say folks were built different back then, but I don't have to. This photo says it for me.

Putting Out Surface Fires, c. 1930
Dozer Clearing a Firebreak, c. 1930
Firefighter Resting on a Cot, c. 1900's (looks like the 1930's)
Gainesville Fire Station no. 1. 1924
Postcard of Gainesville's City Hall and Fire Dept., 1900-1910- a note reads "Gainesville's first fire station was built in 1903. The upper floor of the building housed the city council until 1927, when the city hall was completed."

For wildfire info and resources, check out: https://www.fdacs.gov/Forest-Wildfire/Wildland-Fire

You can check out State Archives of Florida, Matheson History Museum and University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries access to these photos and more!