A major part of LAMP's First Coast Maritime Archaeology Project is to survey bodies of water around St. Augustine, America's oldest port, in an attempt to discover historic shipwrecks and other maritime archaeological sites. One area we had definitely planned on searching was Salt Run, the channel running alongside the Lighthouse and dividing Anastasia Island from Conch Island. At one time this served as the main navigational channel for St. Augustine, and it would have seen significant vessel traffic (and shipwrecks!). The Salt Run survey was re-prioritized once the Port Authority of St. Augustine announced that it was planning on dredging the channel and modifying the boat ramp dock. In order to prevent the possible destruction of unknown archaeological sites, an immediate survey of Salt Run was necessary.

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Cortez is a tiny fishing village near Bradenton Beach, south of Tampa. Founded in the 1880s by watermen and fisher folk from North Carolina, this town is truly unique and hosts a vibrant maritime community. The maritime theme is explicit on the local landscape--I hadn't spent five minutes in town before seeing rudders, anchors, buoys, nets, and other maritime paraphernalia prominently on display in front yards. This town, with its rich commercial fishing history and working waterfront, was a perfect place to host a conference on maritime heritage. In late October, Sam and I traveled to Cortez to attend this meeting, the first attempt in over 20 years to gather all of those parties interested in preserving Florida's maritime past.

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