Ponce de Leon's Discovery of Florida - 500 Years - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
N 30° 06.993 W 081° 20.754
17R E 466677 N 3331750
This statue commemorates Ponce de Leon's discovery and naming of La Florida. It's located at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve's North Beach Access Parking Area in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Waymark Code: WMPVCM
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 10/24/2015
Views: 2
This 17-foot tall memorial includes a life-size bronze statue of Juan Ponce de Leon atop an approximately 11-foot tall concrete plinth. Ponce de Leon is dressed in 16th century Spanish attire, including a helmet, pantaloons, a ruff around his neck, and thigh-high boots. His right arm is extended in front of him at shoulder height and he is pointing in the direction he is facing. His left hand rests on his sword which is attached to his belt. He has a beard and mustache and his hair is a little below his ears.
A plaque on the front of the plinth reads:
Juan Ponce de Leon
In commemoration of the 500th
anniversary of Ponce de Leon's discovery
and naming of La Florida in April of 1513.
Presented to the State of Florida
by Candace Carroll
April 2013
A historical marker near the statue provides the following information:
"This site is believed by some historians to correspond with the offshore location where Juan Ponce de Leon calculated his fleet's position when he first sighted Florida. Ponce's fleet of three vessels set sail from Puerto Rico in early March 1513. On Sunday, March 27, the day of the Festival of the Resurrection, they sighted what they thought was an island. After sailing northwest along the coast, the fleet moved close to shore, and at noon on April 2 a sighting of the sun was taken, probably with either a quadrant or mariner's astrolabe. In his work, Historia General de los Hechos de Los Castellanos en las Islas Y Tierra Firme del Mar Ocean, published in 1601, Spanish historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas recorded that the location was 30° 8' [north latitude]. Herrera's appointment by Phillip II of Spain as the major chronicler of the Indies gave him access to authentic sources, including documents made during Ponce's voyage that would not have been available to other writers. This site had been preserved in its natural condition by the State of Florida and is likely what Pnce de Leon would have seen as he approached Florida for the first time in 1513."