RANCHOS OF THE FLORIDA GULF COAST
Dr. Maranda Kles
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Spanish fishermen, operating out of Regla and Havana, Cuba, began to establish fishing camps, or ranchos, along the Gulf coast of Florida. These were often seasonal camps, but some became permanent over time. Palmetto-thatched huts became wooden structures with thatched roofs. The fishermen married the Native women and traveled back and forth to Cuba with their catches and their families, their children being baptized in Cuba and viewed as Spanish citizens. These "Spanish Indians" came to be viewed with suspicion as tensions rose between the settlers and the Seminole. Many were ultimately rounded up and sent to the reservations in Oklahoma, despite their protestations and Spanish heritage. Her presentation will focus on Phillippi Bermudaz, who operated a rancho which was once located in present-day Cherokee Park. He is the namesake for Phillippi Creek. His house can be seen on the 1857 Follett sketch map, created for the U.S. Army. On the 1850 census, he was listed as “Phillipp Bermudas, age 45, a fisherman, originally from Spain.” Bermudaz, in particular, was hard-hit by the removal of the Seminole by the government, as his first Native wives and children were deported early in the conflicts. His subsequent Seminole wife, Polly, was enticed by a large payment to travel to Oklahoma during the Third Seminole War. Some of the other ranchos along the Gulf coast will also be briefly discussed.
Dr. Kles is the President of Archaeological Consultants, Inc., a cultural resources management firm in Sarasota, and is also the President of the Florida Archaeological Society. She is a forensic anthropologist and bioarchaeologist, specializing in biological distance analysis and Southeastern archaeology. She was born and raised in Sarasota and received her MA and her Ph.D. from the University of Florida (UF).