The historic marker of Monument Lake

Historic marker of the 1936 Seminole Conference - Photo: Still Gravity.
The marker in Big Cypress National Preserve - License our images here.        

It's at the entrance of Monument Lake Campground and marks the spot of a meeting between Seminole Indians and the Governor of Florida David Sholtz in 1936. 

This conference was a political move by the governor and a publicity event for the Indians. They met in the nearby pine hammock. There were photo ops for the press and then the governor met the Seminole representatives without cameras. The governor asked if they needed help and the Indians replied, 

Just leave us alone. 

David Sholtz explained later that the Indians were afraid to be moved from their villages. He added that "They are a sturdy self-reliant people. They did not ask for relief or aid of any kind, just to be left alone".

During the 1930s, this Florida governor spoke for the Indians against the establishing of Everglades National Park because it would take away part of their hunting grounds. He said on this:

...the Seminole of Florida has been pushed about from place to place for the past century and if he is to be pushed again into a forbidding wilderness with his hunting grounds greatly reduced, I have only to say that their predicament is going to be most serious.

There are remains of a dwelling on the other side of the Tamiami Trail. No idea what it was.

(Things to do in Big Cypress National Preserve in this post.)

Abandoned building in Monument Lake - Photo: Still Gravity.
The abandoned building across the road. 

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