Fry Bread Visits: Turtle Mound
Fry Bread recently visited one of the last remaining shell middens in Florida: Turtle Mound.
Created by the Timucuan, it’s nestled on Mosquito Bay in the Canaveral National Seashore–the largest stretch of undeveloped coastline in the state–rising from water and sand.
Shell middens are massive piles of shells created by our ancestors over thousands of years. They once could be found along both the east and west coasts of the United States. But as colonization destroyed the land, the colonizers removed the middens and in Florida’s case, used the shells to pave roads.
Today, they are frequently referred to as “trash heaps” by the descendents of those colonizers.
But we know they are more than that. They are sacred, and when we visit a midden with reverence, it is transformational.
Our ancestors created these massive hills from tiny shells, a reminder to us that creation is our birthright, our calling.
One of our teachers, a Seneca elder, taught that these middens are sacred. To never gather wild plants from them, to never remove a shell, and to always give thanks.
The more time I spend with them, the more this seems profoundly correct.
To create is sacred. To create with nature, in nature, is sacred. To transform with nature is sacred.
We are reminded of that in the peace of this Turtle Mound, ancient oyster shells below us, the roar of the ocean and singing of birds and insects, the glorious symphony that transcends time.
Manatees swim by.
We give thanks, and share this with you today as a reminder.
We respect the mound is sacred; we did not take any photos of it. You can visit and experience it for yourself in Florida.
