Blast From The Past

Named for Dr. Leslie Weedon, a renowned authority on yellow fever, who acquired the 1,250-acre island in 1898 in what is now north St. Petersburg. Weedon had a keen interest in Indian culture, and developed a weekend retreat on the island, from which he began excavations that first revealed the importance of the site as an Indian burial mound. A Smithsonian expedition to the island in 1923-24 further documented the importance of the site, which is now managed as a county preserve. Weedon Island also housed a dance club and movie studio in the 1920s, and was the site of the bay area's first airport in 1930.

Florida's first inhabitants entered a cool, dry Florida as early as 14,000 years ago. As the climate changed to warm and moist, sea levels rose and coastal conditions developed. Nomadic archaic populations began to settle about 5,000 years ago along the rich estuaries and coastal resources in the central Gulf coast area and became the Manasota cultures.

Some 1,800 years ago these sedentary people began to create social structure, ceremonialism, and sophisticated artistic pottery, evolving into the Weeden Island culture lasting some 800 years. Through time the society again changed to eventually become the native population that met the first Europeans. These native peoples were decimated by disease, warfare, and social disintegration brought about by contact with the Spanish.

In the mid 1700s, the Creek Indians entered Florida from Alabama and Georgia and eventually became known as the Seminoles. After the Civil War, Weedon Island became the homestead of early settlers and by the 1900s entered a colorful modern history of airports, speakeasies, and Hollywood movies.

Weedon Island Center