Sacred Ground

Honeymoon State Park is one in a chain of sheltering barrier islands that extend from Anclote Key, south to Cape Romano on Florida's Gulf coast. Research of low-lying " burial mounds" on adjacent islands suggest that the first residents were the Tocobaga tribe. By the 1530's Spanish explorers had visited these sandy lagoons, and as the years passed, they were followed by pirates, traders and fishermen.

By 1964 the gap between the island and the mainland was bridged by a causeway, and in 1974 the area became a State Recreation Area. At one end of this sandy spit of land is one of the few remaining south Florida slash pine stands. These tall trees and rich marine life support an important sanctuary for many Osprey nests. Mangrove swamps, sand dunes and salt marshes provide shelter for a Pelican colony, and more than two hundred species of plants, including many which are threatened or endangered.

This dune is located at American Beach, close to MaVynee Betsch's "Museum" trailer. On the day that we were invited to tour with MaVynee, there were wisps of sea-fog veiling the crown of this immense wall of pure white sand ; I could sense that its sculptured bulk had long provided a spiritual as well as physical protection for this fragile environment, and the unique community in its shadow.