Nocoroco

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.

Directions:
Tomoka State Park
2009 North Beach Street
Ormond Beach

Take S.R..40 (Granada Boulevard) to Beach Street; travel north to Tomoka State Park entrance; follow park road to northern end of peninsula. Look for National Register of Historic Places sign for interpretation. The park charges an admission fee.