Manatee Mineral Springs Park (formerly Indian Springs Park) is a neighborhood park located in Bradenton, Florida. The park is named after a natural spring at the location. In 2006, the park's natural spring was designated a "Florida Natural Spring" by the Florida Geological Survey of Natural Springs.[1][2]
The park is one of the region's oldest parks and a gateway to the city's Riverwalk eastern expansion.
History
Riverwalk boardwalk at Manatee Mineral Spring Park
A historical marker at the park commemorates the early Anglo-American settlement of the village of Manatee that grew up around the spring. Three Spanish fishermen guided Josiah Gates, Manatee's first white settler, to this spot in late 1841.
In 1842, Henry and Ellen Clark acquired the spring property and built the town's first trading post. Over many centuries, people who traveled, hunted, or settled along the nearby section of the Manatee River used water from the spring.[3]
The park was designated in 2018 as a site on the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.[4] Recognizing that the spring was used by individuals who had escaped slavery and lived near the spring between the end of the 1700s and when Florida became a territory in 1821.[5][6]Angola was destroyed by a massive slave raid in early 1821; some escaped to the Florida interior or the Bahamas.[7] The park was re-landscaped and dedicated in 2022. A hand pump that pulls water from the spring onto a relief map of the Manatee River was added. The park has picnic tables and a small gazebo. A boardwalk extends into the Manatee River.
The park adjoins the Reflections of Manatee Historic Complex at the Curry Houses Historic District.[8] In January 2020, the city funded excavations that recovered evidence of Angola and the early settlement of Manatee. Reflections of Manatee led that project and exhibited the artifacts that were recovered.[9]
References
^ abSchmidt, Walter; DEP (October 12, 2004). "Springs of Florida"(PDF). Florida Geological Survey Bulletin. 66: 365, 566. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
^Baram, Uzi (2012). "Cosmopolitan Meanings of Old Spanish Fields: Historical Archaeology of a Maroon Community in Southwest Florida". Historical Archaeology. 46: 108–122.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
