The Silver River Museum and Environmental Education Center
1425 N.E. 58th Avenue
Ocala, Fl
(352)
236-5401
The Silver River Museum and Environmental
Education Center is a program of the Marion County Public School System. The
Center is located within the Silver River State Park and works in close
cooperation with the Florida Park Service.
Many programs are offered throughout the
year. Steve is a volunteer there with
over 100 hours (probably, by now over 200) of service. He is a first mate often on boat trips that
are offered to classes of school children throughout the school season. Jerry is the narrator and finds and explains
various animals that he sees. On most
trips, the students are treated to alligators.
And, on rare trips, the Rhesus monkeys appear at the water’s edge. Always birds, many, many kinds.
To see how the Rhesus monkeys got here www.silversprings.com/heritage.html
Anyway, after Steve’s most recent First Mate
outing, he brought home a flyer about this past Saturday’s event Spanish Conquistadors and the De Soto
Expedition of 1539.
Every event of which I have attended at Silver
River has been a good experience. This
was no exception. It was a wonderful
presentation.
Steve and I wore our “volunteer shirts” which gets
us through the gate. I was not sure what
we were going to do there. If I had
known that we truly were volunteering, we would have arrived a lot
earlier. As it turned out, we waited in
a very long line of travel at the park’s entrance.
We parked, walked to the place of presentation,
and immediately went to work unloading chairs.
The chair carts hold fifty chairs.
One had been unloaded before we got there. Ricki started the assembly line from the next
cart. He opened chairs as fast as he
could. The volunteers placed them
strategically. Three more full carts. I think the response may have overwhelmed the
staff and volunteers, but more is better.
The chairs were quickly filled and even more people showed up.
The flyer said “Join re-enactors portraying
Spanish conquistadors and a local Native American (Timucuan Indian) for a step
back to the year 1539.”
We learned that the Timucuan Indians were wiped
out as a tribe about twenty years after the white man stepped ashore. There is, however, probably some Timucuan
blood running through the veins of some Native Americans through marriage, etc. The woman, who portrays herself as “Turtle
Woman,” was excellent. She is a
descendant of Pocahontas (not an Indian tribe native to the current
southeastern states). But, she has
studied information available, tribal legends and stories and anthropology
relics. She demonstrated various items
used in daily life of both the male and female.
War time weapons. Lances, Spears of various types—different spears had
different heads depending on what one was going to hunt, Arrows. Blow Guns (which she demonstrated). Trade
items (this area had a good supply of flint). River Cane (a Florida reed
similar to bamboo). Cooking pots—from clay to woven pine needle baskets (these
were used by heating stones and immersing them into water within the baskets
that had been waterproofed by use of a corn process). A very unique cooking pot made of metal (a
Conquistador’s helmet, which she called her “head kettle.”) Various animal
pelts. How tanning was done. How life’s
chores were distributed among women and men.
She was not only EXTREMELY informative, but she
also has a great sense of humor. I love
puns, and she dropped several in her presentation. For instance, she told us that a conch shell
was used in this time period for long distance communication. She had several, one of which was on a long
piece of leather. She called it her “shell
phone with her long distance carrier.”
When she did the original lecture part of her
presentation, she stepped out of her tent. As a re-enactor, I know how
expensive the items in her tent are. I
also know that most people are honest and trustworthy; but there are some with
sticky fingers. So, I hopped her fence
and stayed with her tent and belongings while she spoke. When she returned, I tried to anticipate what
she needed and tried to hand it to her as she spoke and answered
questions. If I were grading my
helpfulness, it would be a good solid “C.”
I was getting better as the day wore on.
After her presentation Bill Boston and his horse “Dixie
Girl” were the next guests. He portrays a
mounted (the predecessor of the later cavalry) soldier. He spoke about weapons and life for the
Spanish at that time. One of the things
that he said was that the average Spanish male of that time was about twenty in
age, five-four in height, and about one-hundred thirty five in weight. Dixie Girl is one of 800 registered “Cracker”
horses. They are smaller than most
horses, but are very muscular and sturdy.
Cracker horses are descendants of the original Spanish horses left
behind.
In addition to his speaking and display of
artifacts, Bill and Dixie performed a riding demonstration of early Spanish
military maneuvers on horseback.
Both Turtle Woman and the Spanish Conquistador
were available for questions for a very long time after.
The day was worth wearing my volunteer shirt.
We helped fold and replace chairs on their carts
and went home happy.
Both the National Park Service and Florida have pamphlets about deSoto
and his expedition. The NPS presents a
really super brochure that maps a trail through Florida. Florida has two counties named for him…Hernando
(West Coast of Florida between Pasco and Citrus Counties) and DeSoto (center of
the state…Hardee to the north, Highland—east; Glades—southeast; Charlotte—south;
Sarasota—west and Manatee—northwest…most of which were carved from the original
DeSoto County). Shopping centers. Schools.
Roads. All named for DeSoto.
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| Turtle Woman |
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| Dixie Girl |
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| Shell and stone implements |
Tu
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| Local Teacher "Volunteer" in Chain Mail (sic) portion of uniform. She said it was HEAVY |
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| Turtle Woman's Head Pot |
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