[1][2][3] A 1998 historical marker at the site reads: In 1539, a Spanish expeditionary force led by Hernando de Soto landed in the Tampa Bay area.

Nearly 600 heavily armed adventurers traveled more than 4000 miles from Florida to Mexico intending to explore and control the Southeast of North America.

The evidence includes links of chain mail armor, copper coins, the iron tip of a crossbow bolt, Spanish olive jar sherds, and glass trade beads.

From this location, the de Soto expedition traveled northward and westward making the first European contact with many native societies.

Within two centuries, most of the southeastern native cultures were greatly diminished.This is the site of the First Christmas celebrated in what would be the United States at the Hernando de Soto Winter encampment in 1539.