De Soto National Memorial Map (click to enlarge)

There is one monument located in De Soto National Memorial and two others located just outside the park boundary in Riverview Pointe Preserve, which is now co-managed by the National Park Service and Manatee County Conservation Lands Management. The Catholic Diocese of Venice (Florida) sold the land to a real estate developer in the late 1990s. Local citizens wanted the National Park Service to purchase the land from the developer before it was turned into homes and businesses, but the NPS could not do it. Instead, money was raised and Manatee County purchased the land in 2000. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. Both parks are part of the Shaw’s Pointe Archeological District, which preserves a prehistoric Indian village that was inhabited from around 350 B.C. until 100 A.D. The two parks are connected by an offshoot of the De Soto Expedition Trail.

De Soto Trail Monument

De Soto Trail Monument at De Soto National Memorial

The De Soto Trail Monument marks the start of the De Soto Trail, a driving tour through Florida with stops at 34 different locations that are connected to De Soto’s expedition. Of these stops, only the De Soto National Memorial is part of the National Park system. The monument was erected in 1939 by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in Florida for the 400th anniversary of De Soto’s landing in the Tampa Bay area.

Holy Eucharist Monument

Holy Eucharist Monument at Riverview Pointe Preserve in Bradenton, Florida

Relief sculpture on the rear panel of the Holy Eucharist Monument at Riverview Pointe Preserve in Bradenton, Florida

Also known as the Hernando de Soto Catholic Memorial, the Holy Eucharist Monument dates to the early 1960s when it was first shown at the 1965 World’s Fair in New York. For the next two years it was displayed at the Manatee County Fair before finding a permanent home at what is now Riverview Point, but in the 1960s was land owned by the Dioceses of St. Augustine and later by the Catholic Diocese of Venice. The memorial originally included a nine-foot tall bronze statue of De Soto, but it was removed in the 1970s due to vandalism. It is now at the South Florida Museum and Bishop Planetarium in downtown Bradenton.

Memorial Cross

Also owned by the Catholic Diocese of Venice, the Memorial Cross was erected in 1995 to honor all priests of Florida, but particularly the twelve original priests and friars who sailed with De Soto and accompanied him on his expedition.

Memorial Cross at Riverview Pointe Preserve in Bradenton, Florida

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