• Sunrise over the Fort George River in the Timucuan Preserve.


    Ecological & Historic Preserve Florida

Timucua Village Sketch

Clash of Cultures Activity


Students will use their memory and other available resources to draw a picture of an Indian village. Students should include the essential parts of the village.


3rd-5th grade


SS.A.1.2.2, SS.A.6.2.4, SS.A.6.2.5, SS.A.6.2.6, VA.C.1.2.2


Classroom post-visit activity, 30 minutes


When your class toured the visitor center at Fort Caroline, you saw images that were based on the work of a French artist named Jacques le Moyne, as well as murals done by a modern artist. Le Moyne had accompanied the French expedition to Florida and acted as "photographer", recording images of Florida and its inhabitants so that Europeans could catch a glimpse of these "exotic" places for the very first time.


Have the students use memories from their fieldtrip and any other resources available to them to draw an illustration of what they believe a Timucua village would have looked like. Remind them to include the parts of the village that would have been essential to the Indian's daily life such as: homes, cooking areas, garden areas, etc. Ask the students to discuss "how we know" about the Timucua Indians and their villages - where does our knowledge about them come from?


Shown below are two sketches of a Timucua village.

The idea for the first drawing is based on an image created by Jacques le Moyne, the artist that accompanied the French expedition. The image below is an artist's interpretation of a Timucua village based on a combination of historic description and archaeological evidence. These modern adaptations of the historic landscape are included to help the leader remember images from the field trip.

Essential parts of the student's sketch could include: meeting place (communal building), family homes, storage buildings for food,etc., cooking area, gardens, sporting areas, and aspects of the land around them - the Bluff, river, marsh, etc.

Sketch of Timucua Indian Village
Sketch of Timucua Indian Village
Drawn by NPS Volunteer
Image of Timucua Village Sketch
by Robin C. Brown, taken from the cover of his book entitled Florida's First People (Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc., 1994)

Did You Know?

Male painted bunting, photographed by Roger Clark

Painted Buntings return to nest within the boundaries of the Timucuan Preserve each year in late April. More...