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Photo courtesy of Friends of Fort de Soto.
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Named after explorer Hernando de Soto, this fort was built between 1898 and 1903 on Mullet Key to protect the entrance to Tampa Bay. Along with Fort Dade on Egmont Key, it was used primarily during the Spanish-American War. The shell-and-stone foundation was laid after delays in shipping stone from New York and New Jersey forced the use of locally available materials. Four of the eight original 12-inch breech-loading, rifled mortars of Battery Laidley still are in place; they are the only weapons of their kind remaining in the United States. Battery Bigelow, a 3-inch rapid-fire battery which was badly damaged by storms during the 1920s after the fort was deactivated, is slipping into the bay. Other remnants of Fort de Soto include an observation instrument platform support, recoil cylinders, and two six-inch Armstrong rifled guns recovered from nearby Fort Dade. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978, Fort de Soto is part of Pinellas County Park which opened in 1962.
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Find out more:
General Information:
Open daily 8:00 a.m. to sunset. Activities include annual living
history/reenactment events, guided walking tour every Saturday at 10:00
a.m.; self-guiding canoe trail, camping, beaches and biking/skating and
walking trails. Fort de Soto/Pinellas Park,
3500 Pinellas Bayway S.,
Terra Verde, FL 33715,
(813) 866-2484.
Friends of Fort De Soto
Andrew Bennett
Pinellas County
The Singing River, by Joe Warner, 1986, self-published.
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