Past & Future Meet at Weedon Island
by Victoria Parsons

Photo courtesy Weedon Island Natural History Center	"It's a truly unique place. So much wildlife - including eagles, hawks, roseate spoonbills and otters - is still here, and the building appears to have grown out of the ground as a physical representation of the area's history."
Designed to fit onto its site, the Natural History Center features a roofline that resembles wings, use of natural wood and a sheered wall highlighted by patterns originally created as part of the Weeden Island Culture.

The first residents of Weedon Island might not recognize their prehistoric coastal community, but they'd probably still feel very comfortable.

A stone's throw from busy Gandy Boulevard, Weedon Island Preserve almost seems part of another world. Much of the land remains the same: mangroves line peaceful bayous, salt marshes rise from the bay and merge with uplands covered in pine and oak hammocks. Wildlife still forage for food and raise offspring in a nearly pristine setting. Even the building on the 3,164-acre preserve was carefully designed to fit onto its site and encompass Native American beliefs.

"It's a truly unique place," says Pinellas County Commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd, a driving force behind protecting the land and building the Natural History Center. "So much wildlife - including eagles, hawks, roseate spoonbills and otters - is still here, and the building appears to have grown out of the ground as a physical representation of the area's history."

The center, which opened late last year, highlights the island's prehistoric culture and traditions with architecture and exhibits. Designed with the help of Native American consultants, the building features a curved roof that resembles wings and is open to seven directions recognized by the First People: upper, lower and present worlds, as well as the four compass points.

The first indication that the building wasn't designed using traditional techniques is the east-facing entrance - even though the parking lot is on the west. Walking around the building instead of directly into it also offers visitors a chance to wind down and open up to the natural beauty, adds Phyllis Kolianos, an archeologist and interim director of the Weedon Island center.

Artifacts and replicas of artifacts displayed inside are representative of the Weeden Island Culture, recognized for creating the most advanced Native American pottery in the Southeastern U.S. about 2000 years ago. First discovered by an amateur archeologist and owner of the island, Dr. Leslie Weedon, the site's value was confirmed by a Smithsonian expedition in 1923. (Ironically, the culture is now known with an alternative spelling of Weeden and most archeologists believe that the culture was centered in North Florida and South Georgia, even though the Pinellas site was the first to be excavated.)

Weedon also has been the site of other important "firsts" in the region:

• The Natural History Center is the first facility in the Tampa Bay region to focus on Native Americans. It was first proposed in the 1930s by Horace Albright, then-director of the National Park Service, who visited Weedon Island and was impressed with rare plants on the site as well as the prehistoric villages they helped support and nurture. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972.
• In 1974, the island became Florida's first purchase authorized by the Environmentally Endangered Lands Act. Naturalists have documented more than 300 species of animals including 104 fish, 26 butterfly, 34 reptile, 130 bird and 12 mammal species.
• Weedon Island was the site of Sky Harbor Airport, which opened in the 1920s and served Pitcairn Aviation, transporting passengers to locations such as New York, Miami, and Washington D.C. It also had a dance club and movie studio - along with speakeasies that flourished during Prohibition.

Photo: Victoria Parsons

Pinellas County Commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd (left) and Phyllis Kolianos pause under a replica of a giant crab that greets visitors to the Natural History Center.

When you go: Weedon Island offers ongoing programs both indoors and out. Educational events are held in its 85-seat auditorium and smaller events are scheduled in its well-equipped lab. The cultural center is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The preserve has more than a mile of handicap accessible boardwalks, plus three observation platforms and an extensive system of hiking trails across its 3,164 acres. The gated preserve is open daily from dawn to dusk. Well-marked canoe and kayak trails traverse a series of mangrove tunnels and quiet lagoons that seem unchanged since Native Americans first discovered them. Most of the preserve is a no-motor zone so it's peaceful and quiet for both people and wildlife.

To get there, turn south onto San Martin Boulevard, just east of Derby Lane on Gandy Boulevard, then follow directions to the park.