First White Man Dies In America Marker

Punta Gorda, Florida

The Florida commission that tracks historical markers didn't list this one when we checked in 2006. Perhaps the state would rather forget it, but we were amused to find that it is still standing. The marker looks to have been left to itself, battered by time and weather, while several nearby statues of Ponce de Leon, really just fancy lawn ornaments, have been touched-up with fresh coats of paint. The locals just come here to use the boat ramp.

The name of the plaque-worthy dead Spaniard isn't mentioned. All that's revealed is that he was killed by arrows fired by the Caloosa tribe, either in late May or early June, 1513. Millions of white men have died in America since him, but he was the first.

Not counting the Vikings.

Update 2009: The historical marker was replaced, or at least repainted, and the text seems pretty much unchanged. Sorry, Vikings!