RECOVERING HISTORY: SALVAGE EXCAVATIONS AT ELZUARDI’S POND HISTORIC DEPOSIT
Michelle Calhoun
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 6:30 pm – 8 pm EST Zoom Meeting LINK Meeting ID: 858 387 1128 Passcode: iBFa2B
A permitted, but unmonitored, boundary wall excavation took place in the Indian Beach neighborhood of Sarasota, exposing 19th and early 20th century artifacts. With owner permission, these were salvaged over the course of several visits to the site by Calhoun, local resident Elliot Stutzman, and WMS/LSSAS members Robert J. Dunay, Tim Costin, and Joe Carbone. Recovered were artifacts from the Florida Rancho period to the 1930s. The site was reportedly an artesian well into which persons currently unknown deposited their refuse in a vain attempt to fill it in. A pond at the site can be seen on the 1883 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map in the area where José Elzuardi reported lived.
Spanish fishermen from Cuba established fishing camps, or ranchos, along the southwest Gulf coast, starting in the late 1600s. By the late 1700s, fishing camps could be found up and down the coast. Spanish and Native Americans worked together at these camps to catch and cure the fish, and established communities and familial relationships, with close ties and regular travel between Florida and Cuba. During the Second Seminole War (1835 -1842), the Army used the ranchos, which were frequently visited by Native Americans, as places to establish communications with those whom they were trying to remove out of Florida, including those of mixed ancestry at the ranchos.
During this period, Fort Armistead was established in the Indian Beach area, on the rancho of Manuel Olivella. Its exact location is still a mystery. Intriguingly, lead slag and Seminole War period buttons have been found nearby on several different upland lots. This presentation will discuss the discovery and salvage recovery, the artifacts recovered, as well as describe the neighborhood during the periods of use and deposition of some of the different artifacts. This stretch of Indian Beach, north of Whitaker Bayou, has had a long and interesting history, from Native middens/ mounds to Cuban fishermen, to pioneers and settlers, to modest winter retreats for the earliest snowbirds, and now to mansions for the wealthy interspersed with small homes which have been passed down through several generations.
This presentation will discuss the discovery and salvage recovery at the site, the artifacts recovered, and describe the neighborhood during the periods of use and deposition of some of the different artifacts. This stretch of Indian Beach, north of Whitaker Bayou, has had a long and interesting history, from Native middens and mounds to Cuban fishermen, to pioneers and settlers, to modest winter retreats for the earliest snowbirds, and now to mansions for the wealthy interspersed with small homes passed down through several generations.
Michelle Calhoun is an archaeologist employed by Archaeological Consultants, Inc., of Sarasota. Her primary focus, until the discovery of this site, was on the movement and utilization of lightning whelk by Archaic period Native Peoples. She is currently the President, co-editor of the newsletter, and Membership Secretary for WMS/LSSAS. Calhoun is also involved in the monitoring and study of the rare Sacoila lanceolata var. paludicola, found at LSS. She has a BA in Anthropology from New College of Florida.