Question: What makes up the massive Anderson Mound at the Jungle Prada Complex in St. Petersburg?
Answer: Shells
The mound of shells is 900 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 23 feet above the average high tide. One thousand years ago, the indigenous Tocobaga people carried shells in what is now St. Petersburg and added them to a mound.
Part of the mound is in the Jungle Prada de Narváez Park, and another part reaches across the property of the Anderson family, purchased in the 1940s by Harold “Happy” Anderson. Grandson David Anderson guides the Jungle Prada site tour. His parents, Erik and Doris, founded the Sacred Lands Preservation and Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Tocobaga people.
