The Real Mystery of Some Indian Names

5/12/08

Seeking the origins of Florida place-names often spawns more questions than answers. When inquiring customers learn that Chassahowitzka means "Place of the Hanging Pumpkins," their typical response is, "Why?" Of all the interesting wildlife and significant events that must have happened along this scenic waterway, were hanging pumpkins really the thing Seminoles found most noteworthy? Maybe it was just their way of saying this is a far more exciting place than, say, Apopka, "the potato eating place."

In my youth, as I tried to track down the meaning of Native American place-names in North Florida. I eventually realized that early Floridians had little flair for drama. Names like "Big Creek, "Little Creek and "Big, Little Creek" were typical. So, I was thrilled (and a bit surprised) when I learned that Steinhatchee actually meant "Dead Man's River." Finally, a reference--albeit vague--to some interesting event that presumably happened along this quiet corner of the Big Bend.

But that was as far as my inquiry got. Whatever killed this man, and why his death was memorialized in the name of a river and bay, remains a mystery. Probably just as well. All those blank pages gave my young imagination free reign to conjure the possibilities. Was he a casualty of the Seminole Wars?  Tribal warfare? Domestic violence? Perhaps the "dead man" was simply a poor horseman who fell into the river. I considered many scenarios. But in none of them did anyone eat a potato or giving even a passing glance to a hanging pumpkin.