January 09, 2006
Temporary Travel Office
Guanabacoa Trail
The Temporary Travel Office proposes Guanabacoa Trail, an addendum to the observation platform at Round Marsh within the Theodore Roosevelt Area of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.
The Temporary Travel Office is proposing an addition to the current Observation Tower within the preserve that offers hikers a panoramic view of Round Marsh. The addition would consist of a 498mi/801km boardwalk that would span from the preserve in Jacksonville, FL to Guanabacoa, Cuba. Signage would explain the significance of the expansion to the site (see text below) and audio tours would be commissioned by anthropologists, artists, amateur historians and human rights advocates to accompany hikers on the long walk.
The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve is located near the intersection of the US Intracoastal Waterway and the mouth of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville Florida. Other than existing on classic Florida wetlands, the preserve also occupies the site of first contact between indiginous peoples and European colonists in what is now North America. Monuments to the French expeditions of Rene Laudonnier (who established Fort Caroline) and Jean Ribault are primary attractions for park visitors.
Roosevelt Area of Jacksonville's Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve:
The last known Timucuan, Juan Alonso Cavale, was born in 1709 at Mission Nuestra Señora de la Lecha in what would become the State of Florida. After devastating attacks by British supported Yamasee Indians on the Spanish supply route known as the Camino Real, the Spanish eventually ceded Florida to the British, evacuating their St. Augustine stronghold. They took the estimated 89 surviving missionized Indians with them to Guanabacoa, Cuba where Juan Alonso Cavale would die in 1767.
Guanabacoa, Cuba: Guanabacoa, now a suburb of Havana, Cuba played an important role in the historical narrative of slavery in the "New World." Once the site of forced reservation camps for indigenous peoples, Guanabacoa would become a haven for escaped slaves from the United States. Here, a small stretch of the US 1 highway running through Jacksonville, Florida is reconstructed on the site of a former reservation. The actual stretch of road is now named for Johnnie Mae Chappell, an African-American woman who was gunned down as she walked along the road on March 23, 1964. Several miles away in downtown Jacksonville, protests against the inequities of racial segregation turned violent as whites fought the advances of civil rights. Images of the proposal (as exhibited at Seesaw Space in Jacksonville, FL in December) and a trail map available.
Visit the Temporary Travel Office online.
Posted by jo at January 9, 2006 12:15 PM
