Tomoka State Park

Remnants of St. Johns-period habitation can be found throughout the northern end of the Tomoka State Park peninsula, especially along the shorelines. Portions of once-extensive oyster middens remain here–a strategic point of land surrounded by rich lagoons and protected from hurricanes by an eastern barrier island.

Documented in 1605 by Spanish diplomat Alvaro Mexia, a town called Nocoroco once existed along the peninsula’s western shores. This late-St. Johns period site represented one of the Timucuan people’s last strongholds in northeastern Florida.

Tomoka State Park also contains archaeological evidence from thousands of years before the Timucua lived in this area. Ask park staffers about the Tomoka Stone site (with rocklike masses of coquina shell and four thousand-year-old pottery) and the Strickland Mound complex (with middens and burials dating back even further). The first is not currently open to the public; the latter is considered one of Florida’s most interesting prehistoric spots.

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Internal Links:
Ancient Civilizations of Florida: Tomoka Mounds

External Links:

Le Moyne’s Florida Indians @ TheNewWorld.us

Tomoka State Park
Volusia County Heritage: Nocoroco

Gary C. Daniels

Gary C. Daniels is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated television, video and multimedia writer and producer. He has a M.A. degree in Communications from Georgia State University in Atlanta, a B.F.A. degree in TV Production from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an A.A. degree in Art from the College of Coastal Georgia. He has appeared on the Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Science Channel and History Channel. His History Channel appearance became the highest-rated episode in the network's history. He has a passion for Native American history and art. He is the founder and publisher of LostWorlds.org.