Central Florida - Page 4 of 5

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Seminole Rest Pre-Historical & Historical Interpretive Park - Oak Hill, Florida
December 2018 and January 2019

Seminole Rest is a historic site of shell mounds in the National Park System. Pottery in the area dates between 2000-500 B.C. Prior to Europeans visiting and settling in what is now Florida, Timucuan and Ais Native Americans seasonally visited this area to gather and process clams. As the centuries went by, the shells became mounds along the Florida coastline. Several mounds at this site were de facto preserved by building houses atop them in the 1870's and then the owners refusing to sell the plots thus stopping further development of the land. Approximately 70 percent of the mounds in the county were destroyed over the years when shells were removed to fill railway beds and highways across the country.

The Instone House sits upon Snyder's Mound. (Snyders owned the land for many decades.) This is the largest mound, approximately 13 foot high, and in some areas it is comprised of 17 different layers deposited over time. This house was built prior to 1890.
[Atop a knoll is a large three-storied yellow-sided Victorian-inspired house with white trim and open white wooden porches on the visible sides of the building and on both the first and second level (open and not covered porches on the second level). Several cedar and palm trees in the foreground.]

This is a back-side view of the caretaker's house. The raised wooden sidewalk around the building helps preserve the shell mounds below the surface.
[This two-story house is a much smaller version of the Instone house in that it also has porches on the first two levels and is the same color scheme. This building has much steeper-pitched roofing which is light red in color. From this back-side view, it appears the building is on level ground. A lot of white smeary clouds fill the blue sky around the building.]

This is a front-side view of the caretaker's house.
[This two-story yellow house has porches on the first two levels. It has a bay window on the left side and large bushes which come up more than half the height of the first floor. Two windowed dormers face the water.]

A dock located at the foot of Snyder mound stretches into the waters of Mosquito Lagoon. (Mosquitos were there and biting.) The land in the distance is one of the barrier islands between the lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean.
[The image was taken atop the mound so this is looking down at the vegetation at the water's edge and the dock exending into the water. There is one very tall palm tree on the right side of the image. There is one patch of white grey cloud extending through the middle of the blue sky across the entire image.]

Some shells on the lagoon bed under a few feet of water just off the south side of the dock partially were lit by the sun shining into the water.
[Two large shells touch each other and are aligned in the image from upper right to lower left. The shell on the right is widest just below the top and tapers to a thin point at the bottom. The top also tapers to a point, but it's a wide taper whereas the bottom is a very thin taper. It appear to be a white shell with brown stripes going from top to bottom. The shell on the left is shorter overall. It seems to have its widest point at a lower section than the shell on the right. It might also have tapered to a point at the bottom, but it appears the bottom section is no longer there. This appears to be a white shell with grey stripes going around the shell (the direction perpendicular to the stripes on the other shell).]

A boat sitting in the lagoon.
[A grey bi-level boat with the words 'Keep Off Danger' spray-painted in black on the side facing the mound.]

At the end of a dock on an adjacent property were these royal terns and the much larger brown pelican.
[The brown pelican stands at the very end of the dock with one foot hanging over the edge. Its long bill is tucked against its neck. The terns are gull-like birds with orange beaks and a black section on the bakc of their white heads. Their bodies are light grey. Three birds stand facing the end of the deck while two others sit on the deck.]

Red-breasted merganser
[A side view of the duck-like bird as it swims from right to left. The merganser has a head and body that's darker than its light grey neck. It has a long thin bill. The water is a dark blue grey.]

Female anhinga
[The anhinga is perched in a leafless tree which is close to the water. She has her greyish neck and head cocked to the left. Her black and white feathers cover her back with a black tail at the end. There are white posts in the water in the distance.]

A large cedar tree to the left of two palms
[The palm furthest to the right has a slightly rightward bow to it while the palm beside it has a straight trunk. Both palms are significantly shorter than the top of the cedar tree which has a very wide trunk. The cedar tree has one branches heading to the left of the main trunk while the trunk is fairly straight as it heads skyward until the top section of it heads toward the right. There are sections of the tree which seems to be missing its greenery, but there is still a lot of green sections left on the tree. All three trees are not far from the edge of the lagoon. The water and barrier islands are visible at the lower edge of the image.]

A great blue heron standing on one leg in a tree not far from the water.
[A side view of the heron with its blue and white head and neck tucked into its grey body. Its eye is open, but perhaps it's resting since it's on one leg perched on the decent-sized horizonal branch.]

Osprey lowering itself closer to the water.
[The osprey is looking downward. Its tail is fully spread and its wings are pulled in at an angle creating a vee shape above its body. The white undersides of the wing and body are visible as are the brown parts of the outer feathers and its tail feather.]

Not sure if this is the same osprey as the prior photo.
[The osprey is perched on a leafless branch facing the camera with its head turned to the right. There are some palm fronts coming from the lower left which stripe across the bird's body on the image. The osprey has brown wings and a brown stripe on its head which goes from its eye to the back of its head. The rest of the body is white. Its eye is yellow with a dark center and its hooked beak is blackish grey..]

A small papaya tree (approximately seven foot tall)
[The tree has a silver gray trunck at the base but the extending branches are much thinner and light yellow green. At the end of each pf the more than twenty branches is one very large leaf with multiple lobes. Behind this tree is a huge oak with a two-part very thick truck (each part close to two feet in diameter).]

Papayas starting to grow near the top part of the tree.
[Between the many branches which lead to the leaves are several small green nut-like looking fruit. There are also several yellow flowers which will probably become fruit.]

Hedge bindweed with several carpenter ants enjoying the bloom.
[One open white flower bloom. The petals on this flower are all connected so its like a white bowl. There are several dark insects inside of the flower.]

Largeflower pusley
[Approximately five six-petal white flowers sprout from greenerly alongside the sidewalk. Each flower has a circle of six white stamen at the outer edge of the center depression.Each flower is approximately three quarters of an inch in diameter.]

The oaks in Oak Hill, Florida have been growing for many, many years.
[The tree trunk is on the far left and the branches of this tree extend across all three frames and across the walkway through Seminole Rest. There is a lot of moss hanging across the branches of the tree.]

Continue to more Oak Hill photos. (page 5 of 5)

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All photos © S. M. Garver