History of the Orange Lake Burials

Before Florida became apart of the United States in 1845, the territory was home to many Native Americans.  Archaeologists have found evidence of human activity in Florida that dates as far back as 12,000 years ago.  According to The Paleoindian Period by Ninna Borremans written in 1990, "The environmental repercussions of climatic change and glacial melting provided a dynamic background for cultural response during the Paleoindian period, which lasted about five thousand years. The end of the Paleoindian way of life is difficult to identify archaeologically and may have been one of gradual transition."  The Paleoindians have been the oldest documented evidence of life in Florida.  

More recently, as early as 1513, many Indian Villages were documented by early explorers.  Ponce DeLeon learned of Florida from the Indians.  According to A History of Florida, 1904, "DeLeon heard from the Indians of an island called Bimini, where there was much gold and a treasure even more precious than gold—a fountain whose waters would make young forever all mortals who should drink of it. Many wonderful discoveries had been made since Columbus had proved the world to be round, and people were ready to believe anything. So the gray haired old warrior had no trouble in getting a commission from the king of Spain to conquer Bimini and take possession, for the crown, of the land with its marvelous treasure. The commission was given in 1512, and he was to settle Bimini within three years after its discovery.  Sailing in the spring of 1513, he cruised among the Bahamas, for in that group he expected to find Bimini. Failing in his search, and hearing land in the northwest, he steered in that direction. It was on Easter Sunday, March 27, that he sighted land, and after coasting along the shore for several days, landed a little north of where St. Augustine now stands.  The Bahama Indians had called this land Canico, or Canicio. But on account of the beautiful flowers everywhere to be seen, or because the discovery was made on Easter Sunday—called by the Spaniards Pascua Florida—De Leon gave the name Florida to the country. He raised a cross and planted the Spanish flag, thus taking possession for the Spanish crown.  Just what the king thought of the value of the discovery we cannot tell, but new lands seemed always welcome. At any rate, he bestowed upon De Leon the very grand title of Adelantado, governor of Florida, and coil, commissioned him to conquer and colonize, with an army of three hundred men, the new territory for the crown of Spain. He was to begin the enterprise in one year, and within three years explore the country. But again De Leon was delayed at the West Indies, for the Indians of those islands had risen against the Spaniards, and his aid was needed.

As time passed, De Leon's ambition was aroused by various expeditious of which he heard, and most of all by Cortez's triumphs in Mexico, and he determined to make the conquest of Florida. He laid out all his fortune in fitting out two vessels to bear himself and his companions to Florida. This was in 1521. The voyage was a rough, stormy one, but at last the Florida coast was reached and a land made. De Leon intended making a settlement, and had brought with him colonists and domestic animals for their use. Priests to teach Spanish Soldiers and the Indians that were with him.  But there was no welcome from the Indians. The "children of the sun" soon found themselves among a fierce and warlike people. The Spaniards had hardly landed when they were violently attacked. Many were killed and the rest forced to return to their ships. Ponce de Leon, fighting bravely, was wounded by an arrow. All thought of conquering and settling Florida was now given up, and the return voyage to Cuba was begun.   Soon after reaching Cuba, the brave, disappointed old knight died of his wounds."

During these early exploration of Florida not only by De Leon but also Panfilo de Narvaez, Hernando De Soto, Cortez and many other explorers told of the hostilities from the Indians.  These explores encountered villages inhabited by several different groups of Indians including Ais, Apalachee, Calusas, Cherokee,Tequesta, Timucuan, and Tocobago.  According to the Seminole Tribe of Florida website, "When the first English speakers entered the area of the Southeast that is now Florida, in 1763, they found many of Indian survivors — from tribes such as the Euchee, Yamasee, Timugua, Tequesta, Abalachi, Coça, and hundreds of others, living as 'free people' across the head of the Florida peninsula, on the Alachua Savannah (the area now known as Alachua County).  English speakers ignored their separate tribal affiliations and just called them all Seminole, or Seminoles."

As recent as 1823 there were tribes in East Pasco County that were written about through correspondence sent to the Territorial Governor.  Ca. 1770 a group of Eufaula Indians, which was a sub-group of the Seminoles, settled a village that they called “Toadchudka”, which meant muddy water.  The Eufaula Seminoles located to East Pasco from the region around Eufaula, Alabama.  The “Toadchudka” village thrived until ca. 1836 when the outbreak of 2nd Seminole Indian War completely destroyed the village.  According to Like Beads on a String: A Culture History of the Seminole Indians in Northern Peninsular Florida by Brent Richards Weisman: "The most informative account of these villages appears in a letter sent to Territorial Governor William P. Duval by Horatio S. Dexter in 1823. Dexter, by vocation a trader and merchant and one-time representative of the speculative Alachua Company, was also something of a frontier diplomat and was employed by Duval to inform the peninsular Indians of an upcoming council at Moultrie Creek. ... Leaving Pilaklikaha, Dexter traveled twenty-eight miles southwest to the settlement of Chukochatty, variously spelled, also known as Red House, Red Town, or New Eufala (near the present city of Brooksville, Hernando County), settled by migrants from the Creek town of Eufala in eastern Alabama as early as 1767 (Swanton 1922:403). At the time of Dexter's visit, Simaka was the town chief and owned 3 slaves, 160 head of cattle, 90 horses, and a number of hogs. The prosperity of this settlement was so marked that two years prior to Dexter's visit 60 black slaves residing there were lost in a Creek raid from the north. Twelve miles south of Chukochatty, Dexter entered a village on the border of a lake where corn, pumpkins, and watermelons were grown [Toadchudka]. Four miles farther was the settlement of Tomahitche, a series of dispersed hamlets situated so as to take advantage of the savanna pasturage in the area. The hamlets shared a common field planted in corn and rice. These settlements were just southwest of present-day Dade City, Pasco County, on the highlands west of Lake Pasadena."  (click here for ca. 1830 map showing Indian Villages) There were numerous documented and undocumented tribes of Indians that lived in Florida until the third and final Seminole Indian War in 1857, after which many of the Indians were removed from Florida and placed on reservation in Oklahoma.  

With the many different types of Indians that lived in Florida and even in Pasco County, there are burial mounds throughout the state and county.  Through excavation and study of these mounds the time period and types of Indians or tribes, buried in them, can be determined.  Unfortunately many Indian burial mounds have been destroyed by the development of Florida and continue to be destroyed by the continuing development.  Protected under Florida State Laws these mounds continue to be destroyed with total disregard to them being graves.   In the case of the Indian burials at Orange Lake in New Port Richey, their destruction was documented.

According to a New Port Richey article dated April 29, 1927, "The actual construction of the Jasmin Point Golf Club began Monday, when a crew of surveyors, engineers and land-clearers, under the direction of the Gulf Engineering Company, swung into the task of readying 180-acres of land for the reception of fairways, the building of bunkers and hazards, and the completion by next January first of at least nine- holes for play."  The Jasmine Point Golf Club was a nine hole golf course built along Avery Road to U.S. 19, then it followed along the river on the east side of U.S. 19.  The only visible sign left from the golf course is one of the many water hazards, this small pond is located on U.S. 19 behind the old HoHo's Chinese Restaurant.


A couple of years after Jasmine Point Golf Club was started, a miniature golf course was built around Orange Lake in downtown New Port Richey.  On February 08, 1929, the New Port Richey Press reported the following story:  Human Skeleton Found at Orange Lake Excavation-- Bones Are Thought To Be Those Of Ancient Indian Sun worshiper- Unearthed


It is believed that the location where the skeletons were found was not located right at the edge of the lake but rather in the wooded area that was located to the west, between Orange Lake and the Pithlachascotee River.  This wooded area was once known as Enchantment Park and was used for camping, today it is known as Sims Park.  This belief is based on the fact that the area immediately around Orange Lake was cleared, homes were being built and lots were being sold ca. 1910, however the area between Orange Lake and the river remained untouched until the development of the golf course.