History Of Palmetto Bay
The
Village of Palmetto Bay is located in an area of South Miami-Dade which has
included many cultures inhabiting the land for over 10,000 years.
Paleo-Indians, Tequestas, Seminoles, Afro-Bahamians, and Anglo-Americans have
at different times lived here; each new group literally following in the footsteps
of the preceding one. The evidence left behind recounts the evolution of human
housing along the Miami Rock Ridge, from stone cave dwellings to Mediterranean
Revival style mansions.
A
migration of Florida’s first settlers brought them to high ground along the
shores of Biscayne Bay. In what is today the Deering Estate property, early
inhabitants established a camp 10,000 years ago. In 1985, at the Old Cutler
Fossil Site, archaeologists found human skeletal and charred animals remains
from that early time. The site further contained fossilized remains from now
extinct animals including mammoths, sloths, dire wolves, and saber tooth
tigers. The Old Cutler Fossil Site represents one of the most important
archaeological excavations in the eastern United States. Prior to its discovery
within Deering, most thought human habitation in Florida dated back only 4,000
years. The sensitive artifacts were carefully excavated from the fossil site
and are part of the archived collections at the Historical Museum of Southern
Florida and the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.