Treasures of Fort Pierce recently took a tour of the St. Lucie County Regional History Center . This is a wonderful place to learn about the unique history and culture of the area. The Museum is full of incredible exhibits featuring artifacts, photo’s and dioramas from the Spanish sailors to the Native American history. You can experience the history through some of their interactive exhibits such as the Gardner House and the old farming equipment the early pioneers used. You can sit on a fire engine from the early 1900’s. On Saturday’s, Dan Gardner is present to personally show off of his historical home that was donated and moved to the museum site . He brings fascinating facts about the era of this home and loves to relive his childhood. His perspective of World War 11 is interesting because he remembers the sailors and the early “FROGMEN” as they were called back then. Today, the amphibious group is an elite group of soldiers called the Navy Seals.
Assistant director, Lucille Rights, a Historian and author of “A Portrait of St. Lucie County” is usually there during the week to answer any questions about the local history. Lucille told us about an exciting new exhibit, “The Treasures” that features artifacts that were found off the coast of Fort Pierce deriving from several spanish ship wrecks. Did you know that Fort Pierce has an actual underwater archaeological preserve? To learn more about that, go to www.museuminthesea.com.
The ship wreckage located just north of Pepper Park is known as the Wedge Wreck because of the silver wedges found. The real name of the sunken merchant vessel is Urca de Lima and was one of 11 spanish fleets hit by a hurricane in the summer of 1715. There were as many as sixteen cannons and four anchors raised from this site. Some of them can be seen today at the Pinewood Park. There were no royal treasures found on this wreckage but the artifacts and the silver was still quite a find. Make sure you stop in to see Dan and Lucille to hear more about the culture and history of Fort Pierce and the surrounding area. You can discover another treasure of Fort Pierce and that is her fascinating history. The History Center is open Wednesday to Friday from 10am- 4pm and Saturday 1:00pm-4:00pm.