Florida Family Getaways - 2008 - (Page 17) By Terry Tomalin BUSHNELL – THE NOTE ON THE ROAD MAP SAYS “STATE HISTORIC SITE.” IT’S SO CLOSE TO INTERSTATE 75, I PULL OFF AND HAVE A QUICK LOOK. The kids are getting restless in the back seat, counting the signs that advertise the state’s better-known tourist destinations. “Now how far is it to Disney World?” my son, Kai, 6, asks for the tenth time in less than an hour. “Not as far as the last time you asked me,” I respond as 10,000 dads have before me. Driving down a sleepy country road past forests and fields, I tell the little ones about our destination, the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park. “This was once Indian country,” I begin. “In these very woods once roamed a proud people called the Seminoles.” History books don’t talk much about this chapter of American history. But the fi rst battle for Florida, fought on this land nearly 200 years ago, is studied by scholars even today. After driving through the gate and into the parking lot, we climb out of the car and head toward the half-mile nature trail that winds through the park. “Will we meet any Seminoles today?” Nia, my three-year-old daughter, asks. The mighty warriors were far too clever to be seen, I say, but if we keep quiet, perhaps we might hear a twig snap or leaf rustle as the native Americans move through the pines around us. It was on a day like this, back in the winter of 1835, that Maj. Francis Dade and 107 men marched from Fort Brooke in what is now Tampa to Fort King in presentday Ocala. “This trail actually follows the old Fort King Military Road,” I explain. “Soldiers walked through these woods just like we’re doing.” Their eyes grow wide, and I continue my tale. Family Getaways 17
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