Instructions:
1....Print this file.
2....At its end, click on "rules" to see a copy of the trail rules, print it, and then click where indicated at the end of the 3-page rules and patch order form to get back to the list of Florida trails.
3....If you want a hand-drawn map showing the locations of all of the sites, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Steve Rajtar, 1614 Bimini Dr., Orlando, FL 32806.
4....Hike the trail and order whatever patches you like (optional)
WARNING - This trail may pass through one or more neighborhoods which, although full of history, may now be unsafe for individuals on foot, or which may make you feel unsafe there. Hikers have been approached by individuals who have asked for handouts or who have inquired (not always in a friendly manner) why the hikers are in their neighborhood. Drugs and other inappropriate items have been found by hikers in some neighborhoods. It is suggested that you drive the hike routes first to see if you will feel comfortable walking them and, if you don't think it's a good place for you walk, you might want to consider (1) traveling with a large group, (2) doing the route on bicycles, or (3) choosing another hike route. The degree of comfort will vary with the individual and with the time and season of the hike, so you need to make the determination using your best judgment. If you hike the trail, you accept all risks involved.
This area was the Indian temple town of Tocobaga, and was visited in 1567 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. He negotiated with Carlos, a Calusa chief, in an effort to convert the natives to Christianity. They built a blockhouse mission for Father Rogel and 30 soldiers.
"Tocobaga" is derived from an old Chahta Indian term meaning "place of the gourds".
Spanish conquistador Hernando DeSoto landed here and gave Tampa Bay the name of Bahia Espiritu Santo, the "Bay of the Holy Spirit". Espiritu Santo later just applied to the springs located to the south.
This temple mound is a large flat-topped shell mound about 20 feet high and 150 feet in diameter, occupied from about 1500 A.D. to 1700 A.D. It was the tallest of the Tampa Bay mounds. The cacique (chief) and the shaman (priest) lived on or near the mound, where religious and ceremonial events took place.
About 300 feet to the west are low, rolling mounds of shell midden where most of the village was located. Thousands of pottery sherds have been excavated from that area.
About 900 feet to the west of that is a burial mound, first studied in 1929 by Matthew W. Stirling. In 1930, about 100 skeletons were removed from a dig in about one-quarter of the mound, and the bones were used by farmers for fertilizer. The mound was studied in 1948 by Ripley Bullen and John Griffin.
These and the other mounds constituting the site were placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
Odet Philippe from Lyon, France, and his four daughters settled near the Indian River on the east coast of Florida and made friends with the local Indians. They warned him to leave with his family because of a planned Indian raid, and he heeded their advice and sailed south. On the way, they encountered a pirate ship captained by Juan Gomez, but were befriended because Dr. Philippe was able to heal many of their sick.
They showed him a map to Tampa Bay, and he set sail for it. After he rounded Pinellas Point, he arrived at a shore with a large Indian mound. In 1842, he built his house near this spot, and named his estate "St. Helena". Philippe is credited with planting the first grapefruit trees in Florida, setting them out in rows to form the first garden.
Philippe's nearest neighbor was Hugh McCarty who in 1844 lived near the present intersection of Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. and Bayshore Blvd. He built a wharf called the "Swimming Pen", which was deep enough for shipping cattle and produce to Cedar Key and Cuba.
Philippe is buried here, in the park which bears his name. Pinellas County purchased 88 of Philippe's original 160 acres in 1947 to create the park.
Virginia Tucker modeled this mansion after Lyndhurst, her family plantation near Monticello in Virginia. Built during the 1920s, it replaced the earlier home here of Capt. James F. Tucker, a confederate army veteran who died in 1913.
This area was settled by John D. Young and William Mobley in 1853. The resort was first developed by James F. Tucker who built a structure over the springs to serve as a bathing pavilion, shelter, and bottling house.
In 1923, the Espiritu Santo springs company was created to develop the resort. A large concrete structure was built to enclose the springs and protect them from pollution. Water from the springs was shipped all over the country from its bottling plant. A second bathing establishment was opened in 1928 by Dr. Con F. Barth, using the mineral waters of the Pipkin Mineral Wells across the street from the first spa.
The resort was publicized by Dr. Jesse Green, who was paralyzed for over 40 years, and who came to the springs for healing. Within ten months, he was healed. Green claimed 40 acres of land bordering the springs and built three houses to rent to those who came to "Green Springs".
In less than a quarter of an acre, there are five springs. The "Drinking Spring" is the most popular and is credited for curing many diseases. The "Bath House Spring" is used for relieving stress by immersion, and for curing skin diseases. The "Beauty Spring" softens, cleanses and beautifies skin and heals abrasions. One spring, on the original Pipkin Mineral Well Hotel property across from the Espiritu Santo Springs Spa, has not been analyzed.
This property was the site of Safety Harbor's first real estate office, called Goodrich Real Estate.
When built in 1927-34, the nine and a half mile causeway from Clearwater to Tampa was the longest one over water in the U.S. It was originally called the Davis Causeway after Capt. Ben T. Davis who was in charge of its construction.
At the end of it was a two-story toll booth, with Davis residing upstairs. After World War II, the State Road Department acquired the causeway, renamed it after a local member of the Road Board, and tore down the toll booth.
During the 1400s, this area comprised the Indian town of Ucita. In the late 1800s, Taylor Youngblood donated a portion of the land on which this museum sits for $1 per year, to be used as a place for men to trade stories and play cards.
The land is a Tocobaga Indian shell mound, and immediately to the west of the museum building sat the Bayshore Hotel. It burned down on September 17, 1908, and its location was uncertain until archaeologists found hotel artifacts buried here in 1989.
This two-story Classical Revival style home belonged to William Bolivar Finley Leech. It dates to 1889.
For decades, this large oak tree was a popular place to gather. Notice the many initials carved in the tree by courting couples.
This house was built in 1865 and was expanded in 1876. It may be the only log cabin in Pinellas County still on its original site. In 1992, it was bought by Betty Quibell for $61,000.
This is the former site of the first church and meeting place in Pinellas County. The buildings have disappeared, but graves dating back to the 1850s are still here. This land was donated in 1886 by Seymour S. and Ortanchier Youngblood to be used for a church site.
In the Jewish section of the cemetery are the graves of Louis and Hannah Frank. Louis is considered to be the first permanent Jewish resident of Pinellas County, having moved to Clearwater in 1911. He started his New York Department Store there the following year.
Walk north on the cemetery road past the flagpole to view the oldest graves, including those of Milton McMullen (1900), John T. McMullen (1890), Lavinca Taylor (1860) and William Taylor (1853).
Long before it was developed, a tract of 135 acres at this intersection was traded by Taylor Youngblood to the McMullen family, in exchange for a mule.
On this tract in 1916 was built a three-story school, which was torn down in 1961. It was supplemented by the present two-story building, erected in 1926 and remodeled in 1961. It was designed by M. Leo Elliott Co., Inc. and built by Marshall-Jackson Co.
A library was started by the Woman's Civic Club during the 1930s. At this corner, Dr. Salem Baranoff donated two lots in 1946. Architect Mr. Aultshuler designed the library building, which was erected in 1949.
Before the shells were removed to be used as road fill, the midden here was about six feet high. When the shells were removed, it left a huge oak tree exposed for about six feet of its roots, but it continues to survive.
This three-story building opened as a hotel on March 6, 1925. It was built for Virginia Tucker, and named after her husband, James. On the first floor was Roberts Pharmacy on the corner and, on the Main St. (formerly Orange Ave.) side, the Florida Motor Lines bus station and Enterprise Market No. 2, which sold meat. It was later called the Harbour House.
A large three-story commercial building erected here in 1925 was topped with two silver-colored domes. It was a Safety Harbor landmark until it was declared unsafe and torn down in 1981. It was built for Louis Zinsser with a Spanish style. Apartments were located upstairs over the shops, which included a plumbing business, a drug store and a doctor's office.
This was the site of an early Safety Harbor theater, the Alden. It was torn down and later replaced by a new library built in 1994.
The land on which this church was built was donated in 1913 by the Arnold Charnock family.
A Guide to National Register Sites in Florida, (Florida Department of State 1984)
Florida Historical Markers & Sites, by Floyd E. Boone (Gulf Publishing Company 1988)
Florida Jewish Heritage Trail, by Rachel B. Heimovics and Marcia Zerivitz (Florida Department of State 2000)
Florida's History Through Its Places: Properties in the National Register of Historic Places, by Morton D. Winsberg (Florida State University 1988)
Florida's Pinellas Peninsula, by June Hurley Young (Byron Kennedy and Co. 1984)
Indian Mounds of the Atlantic Coast: A Guide to Sites from Maine to Florida, by Jerry N. Mcdonald and Susan L. Woodward (The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company 1987)
Indian Mounds You Can Visit, by I. Mac Perry (Great Outdoors Publishing Company 1993)
Remembering Safety Harbor, by Patricia Pachurek (Tropical Breeze Publications, Inc. 1992)
Tampa that Was ... History and Chronology Through 1946, by Evanell Klintworth Powell (Star Publishing Company, Inc. 1973)
Yesterday's Clearwater, by Hampton Dunn (E.A. Seeman Publishing, Inc. 1973)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules.