The site covers 30 acres (12 ha) and is .25 miles (0.40 km) long.

The site was the first in the Ten Thousand Islands area to be excavated by professional archaeologists.

He declared it to be "important to science", and urged that it be made a "national reservation."

He noted structural features similar to those found at Key Marco and Chokoloskee Island, and concluded that the region was an "important prehistoric population center."

[4] The Turner River Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.