It's been a very busy past few weeks and I'm trying to get caught up with the blog. First up is a news report on the latest installation of a kiosk on the new version of the De Soto Trail project.
New Kiosk on Campus Marks De Soto's Trail
Santa Fe College
As part of the De Soto National Memorial project, Florida De Soto Trail, Santa Fe College was asked to host a kiosk commemorating part of Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his army's journey as they traveled northward though Florida. ...
I had noticed that when I was at De Soto National Memorial for the timeline event in March that what I believe the last of the the original De Soto Trail waysides erected in the 1980's to commemorate the 450th Anniversary of the Soto entrada had been removed. The new kiosk had been installed by the landing event last weekend. I believe that as of this writing that the end point at the Martin Site in Tallahassee, and a couple of others as well in Hillsborough county are up as well. per the news story, " All 34 kiosks can be viewed on the website floridadesototrail.com when it's launched later this year" Right now its a place holder.
When I traveled to Arkansas 11 years ago for the De Soto 2000 event I drove along Florida's De Soto Trail adding hours to that trip) and stopped at the waysides that were still left. Even at point a scant 15 years after installation many of them had been vandalized and several were simply missing, apparently taken out by road widening projects and never reset. I even did a website on it, since vanished when I switched ISP's. But below are some photos culled from it:
A typical example of one of the 1980's waysides. The new ones are to be located within existing parks and other government facilitates in the hope that they new kiosks will have a longer lifespan.
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