Historic Indian midden at DuBois park, Jupiter, Florida.
N 26° 56.581 W 080° 04.546
17R E 591746 N 2980459
The DuBois house stands on a Native American shell mound, or midden, 20 feet high and originally 600 feet long. It is now only 90 feet in length.
Waymark Code: WM7GY8
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 10/25/2009
Views: 12
A midden is technically a trash heap, built up over hundreds of years. Eventually such heaps became mounds and provided an elevated place for a chief's house or a religious sanctuary. The oyster and other shells that compose the mound are especially visible under the steps leading up to the house and around the house itself.
The large shell mound on which the DuBois House sits is the most prominent surface feature of the Jupiter Inlet. It is one of the last remnant coastal shell mounds in southeast Florida. Large shell mounds along coasts, rivers, and estuaries represent accumulations of years of consumption of shellfish, fish, and turtles by Native American inhabitants.
A large portion of the midden was removed and sold for landfill. Much of Silver Beach Road in Lake Park was made from this. Through the years Harry and Susan DuBois sold more of the midden in order to supplement their income. At the time when this was happening there were no laws to protect such sites. Originally the water in the Inlet came almost to the steps that now lead up to the front porch.
1696 the site was the home of the Jaega Indians in which Jonathan Dickinson and his party were held captive. Mr. Dickinson wrote a book about his experience.
The Jaegas (also Jega, Xega, Jaece, Geigas, Jobe) were a tribe of Native Americans living along the coast of present-day Martin County and Palm Beach County, Florida at the time of initial European contact, and until sometime in the 18th Century. Little is known of the origins of the Jaegas, but they may have been a junior branch of the Ais tribe that occupied the coast to their north. Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who was held captive by tribes in Florida for 17 years during the 16th century, implied that the Ais and the Jaega spoke the same language. The Jaega were linked to the Ais by marriage between chiefs and their relatives. The Ais and Jaega languages have been tentatively assigned by some authors to the Muskogean language family, and by others to the Arawakan language family.
Some information about the Jaegas of the town of Jobe (near present-day Jupiter Inlet, Florida) comes to us from the Journal of Jonathan Dickinson, who was part of a shipwrecked party detained by the Jaega of Jobe for several days in 1696. By Dickinson's account, Jobe was subject to the Ais chief who resided in Jece (near present-day Vero Beach, Florida). In the later part of the 16th century Spanish soldiers who had been driven out of Ais territory built a fort called St. Lucie at the Jupiter Inlet, but were soon forced to abandon it after relations with the Jaega turned sour.
The geographic name "Hobe Sound" comes from the name of the tribe. The Spanish pronounced the name "Ho-bay," which has evolved into the current name "Hobe" (which sounds like "robe").
**Information gathered from the following websites.**
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