Legend has it that the long-extinct Tocobaga Indians built mounds and blessed them to protect their home, the Tampa Bay area, from hurricanes.
Though last year’s Hurricanes Helene and Milton may have dashed that notion, the legend is the focus of discussion at “Echoes of the Land: Hurricanes, History, and Storytelling,” an event scheduled from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, at Sacred Lands, 1700 N. Park St. in St. Petersburg, the Tocobaga archaeological site on Boca Ciega Bay. The free event is sponsored by Florida Humanities and Sacred Lands Preservation and Education.
The event will feature a discussion of the story of the Tocobaga and how the people living in the Tampa Bay area have sought to understand storms through the centuries. Speakers are University of South Florida professor and historian Catherine Wilkins; official Florida Folklorist Dominick Tartaglia; and St. Petersburg Museum of History Executive Director Rui Farias.
There will be guided tours of the three-acre site, which saw significant damage from Hurricane Helene last year. The site is dominated by two Tocobaga mounds built about 1,000 years ago. One is a 12-foot high flat-top mound roughly the size of a football field; the other is a 23-foot high rounded mound that is 900 feet long and 300 feet wide.
“We’re going to have site tours that focus on the hurricane history of Tampa Bay and how it relates to the site and how the Tocobaga thought of hurricanes,’’ Wilkins says.
The Tocobaga thrived from the 800s to the 1500s, when Spanish explorers arrived in the Tampa Bay area. Within 100 years, Wilkins says, almost all the Tocobaga had died, killed by the Spaniards, or infected with diseases they brought, to which the Tocobaga had no immunity.
At the event, Tartaglia will talk about the Tocobaga’s beliefs.
“He’s conducted research that helps us understand the roots of his legend,’’ Wilkins says. “Where did this story come from? And what does it tell us about how we think of Native Americans, what we understand about their actual history and the relationship they had to the environment?’’
People attending the event will have the opportunity to tell their own hurricane experiences for an oral history project Wilkins is conducting in partnership with Heritage Village in Largo.
“Basically we’re going to have a little team there collecting interviews from the public and recording their hurricane stories so we can get a sense of how our community experienced the 2024 hurricane season personally and in terms of impact on the community, and what their thoughts are on the future of our area, especially in light of future storms to come,’’ Wilkins says.’
People who can’t attend the event can go online and submit their stories for the oral history project.
People who go to the event can test their knowledge of hurricane history, folklore and preparedness by taking part in a trivia-style game with the historians. The experts will fill the role of “phone a friend’’ for help.
“We’re there to chime in and give assistance and maybe help explain,’’ Wilkins says. “If people are surprised by a particular answer, we can provide some extra background and context.’’
The event is one of many being held around the country for the National Humanities Center’s “Being Human Day,’’ according to a news release, highlighting the importance of the humanities and how they help us understand ourselves and one another.
To register for the event and tour, go to Echoes of the Land
To participate in the oral history project, go to Hurricane stories
For information on the site, go to Sacred Lands
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