Indian Shores To Unveil Monument Depicting Native Tocobaga Family

INDIAN SHORES, FL — The town of Indian Shores in partnership with Pinellas County will unveil its new monument project featuring a Tocobaga Native American family.

The unveiling will take place at the Mayor James J. Lawrence Veterans Memorial Park inside Tiki Gardens, 19601 Gulf Blvd., on Thursday, June 16 at 10 a.m.

The monument site features educational kiosks, an arch that depicts native flora and fauna and a central sculpture of the Tocobaga family honoring the town's past and focus on the family.

The overall project is the design of local artist Steve Graff. The 40-foot-wide bronze and aluminum sculpture is by Geza Gaspar.

It features a Tocobaga family under a large arch including a man, a woman and a grandmother holding a baby. The monument will include a display of the Tocobaga people's history and a self-guided video tour.

The sculpture pays homage to the Tocobaga indigenous people who lived in small villages at the northern end of Tampa Bay from 900 to the 1500s, according to Exploring Florida. Each village was situated around a public area that was used as a meeting place. The houses were generally round and built with wooden poles holding up a roof of palm thatches.

The Tocobaga people built mounds of earth, shells and stone within their villages on which the chief's home and tribe's temple were built.

The Tocobaga also built burial mounds outside the main village area as a place for burying the dead, said Exploring Florida.

The Tocobaga tribe enjoyed a peaceful existence, fishing and gathering shellfish from the bay and nearby streams as well as hunting deer, rabbits, armadillo and squirrels using a throwing stick called an atlatl that functioned much like a spear. They supplemented their diets by gathering berries, nuts and fruit.

Their peaceful existence came to an end in 1528 when Spanish explorer Pánfilo de Narváez sailed into Tampa Bay, bringing disease and violence.

The $864,000 project was made possible with funds from Penny for Pinellas.

"To acknowledge the Tocobaga’s history is essential to understanding and appreciating their mark on these Native lands," said the town of Indian Shores in a news release. "This project will support guest and visitor education as well as the preservation of the history of the Indigenous people who inhabited the land before us. "

Legacy Vacation Resorts-Indian Shores sponsored a $10,000 sidewalk that will provide a guided walking path for beach access to their guests.

The monument is part of the Indian Shores Arts Council's rebranding efforts for the town that have included new streetlight banners and bus stop decals with the Indian Shores logo featuring a Native American figure.

The logo is also used by the Indian Shores Police Department, on public services vehicles and uniforms and in a new art wall hanging above the dais in the fourth-floor community room at Town Hall as well as in the carpet of the entryway at Town Hall.

Residents can also purchase T-shirts, canvas bags and window decals with the logo at the third-floor administration window at Town Hall, 19305 Gulf Blvd. Click here for an order form.