Little Salt Spring

Lt. Col. William Robert Royal (March 16, 1905 – May 8, 1997) was an American scuba diver in the United States Air Force and amateur archeologist. In the late 1950s, he and other scuba divers found artifacts and human bones from at least seven individuals in Warm Mineral Springs. A partially burned log found in association with some of the human bones was radiocarbon dated to about 10,000 years ago. If the bones were the same age as the log, then the bones were the oldest known evidence of human occupation in Florida at the time.

The Warm Mineral Springs is a water-filled sinkhole located in North Port, Florida, a mile north of U.S. 41. The primary water supply is a spring vent deep beneath the pool's water surface. Warm Mineral Springs is the only warm water mineral spring in the State of Florida. It is an important geological and archaeological site containing Native American remnants. The site was operated as a spa from 1946 until 2000. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on November 28, 1977. The springs re-opened for swimming only in 2014.

The Warm Mineral Springs Building Complex consists of three historic buildings built in 1959 in the Warm Mineral Springs park in North Port, Florida. The buildings include a Park Spa Building, a sales building attached to the Spa Building, and a Cyclorama which contained an exhibit depicting Ponce de Leon's alleged discovery of the Fountain of Youth. The three buildings were added to the park facilities to house a Florida Quadricentennial celebration, which ran from December 14, 1959, to March 15, 1960. The Spa Building and the Cyclorama were designed by Jack West, a leader of the Sarasota School of Architecture. The buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

Warm Mineral Springs Motel is a historic 1958 motel building near Warm Mineral Springs, Florida, in Sarasota County. It was designed by Victor Lundy, a member of the Sarasota School of Architecture. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The motel is located at 12597 South Tamiami Trail. The motel is known for its mushroom champagne glass style roof and glass walls, allowing guests to see the stars. It was selected by the American Institute of Architects for the 1958 Special Awards. Lundy wrote in a 1958 issue of The Florida Association of Architects: "I was searching for a form that would somehow symbolize the thought of the Fountain of Youth by a plastic flowing shape, that would also echo the organic growing shape of a tree. The answer came in the adoption of a structural system based on using precast concrete hyperbolic paraboloids, 14ft-5in square (from basic motel unit width-requirement, plus necessary overlap) in two heights arranged in a U-shaped plan (the remaining wing will be added shortly). Three of the so called shells were lifted up on higher columns of varying height to form the sign of the motel, as a free-standing piece of sculpture."The reception desk is original (from 1958). The pool area was added in 1990.

Warm Mineral Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,442 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bradenton–Sarasota–Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Warm Mineral Springs locale is notable for a free-flowing artesian spring. A large portion of the area was annexed by the municipality of North Port, and is now part of that city. The Warm Mineral Springs Motel designed by modernist architect Victor Lundy, one of the architects associated with the Sarasota School of Architecture, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Myakkahatchee Creek Archaeological Site (8SO397) is located in North Port in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The site was discovered when the area was being prepared for housing in 1982. Crews building Cold Springs Lane and Reiterstown Road unearthed artifacts and human remains. Archaeologists discovered a rare inland multi-period Manasota Indian village near the Myakkahatchee Creek, a major transportation route from the Gulf of Mexico inland. What makes the site so rare is that evidence of 10,000 years of occupation was excavated and very little is known about inland villages. The Manasota people remained permanently settled as fishing–hunter–gatherers between Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Culturally, they were the northernmost of the Glades south Florida culture region. Archaeologists found a large midden, as well as a large U-shaped ritual earthwork with a burial mound. The area has yet to be professionally excavated. The creek is now part of North Ports Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. Luer and colleagues commented after their salvage archaeology at the Myakkahatchee Creek site in 1987 that: "Archeological site destruction has been rampant and widespread in the Upper Charlotte/ Lower Myakkahatchee River area and is still ongoing. The remaining resources urgently need to be identified, inventoried, and studied before they too are lost." According to the state's master file, there are a total of 205 prehistoric sites in Charlotte County that have been presumed lost by 2018. Several hundred likewise have been lost in Sarasota County with the exception of Historic Spanish Point, Warm Mineral Springs and the Little Salt Spring Archaic Period sites.

The Myakkahatchee Creek is a small stream located near the city of North Port in Sarasota County, Florida. It is a tributary of the Myakka River.

Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park is a 168-acre (68 ha) heavily wooded park in North Port, Florida, north of Interstate 75.

North Port is a city located in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The population was 74,793 at the 2020 US Census. It is part of the North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was originally developed by General Development Corporation as the northern / Sarasota County portion of its Port Charlotte development, the other portion located in the adjacent Charlotte County. GDC dubbed the city North Port Charlotte, and it was incorporated under that name through a special act of the Florida Legislature in 1959. By referendum in 1974, the city's residents approved a change to its name as North Port, dropping Charlotte from its name to proclaim the city as a separate identity. It is home to the Little Salt Spring, an archaeological and paleontological site owned by the University of Miami.

Deer Prairie Creek Preserve is a 6,439-acre (26.06 km2) natural area with 70 miles (110 km) of trail in unincorporated Sarasota County, Florida, USA, around six miles (9.7 km) along the Myakka River.

Wellen Park (formerly known as the West Villages) is a planned community located in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The majority of Wellen Park is located along US 41 and River Road within the city limits of North Port, with some portions of the community extending into unincorporated Sarasota County.

Charlotte Sports Park (formerly known as Charlotte County Stadium and Ranger Stadium) is a baseball stadium in Port Charlotte, Florida. The stadium is the home field for Tampa Bay Rays spring training operations, as well as its Rookie-class Florida Complex League Rays teams. From 2009 to 2020, it also hosted the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League.Originally built in 1987, the main stadium underwent a renovation that was completed in January 2009 at a cost of $27 million.Prior to the Rays, the stadium was home to Texas Rangers spring training exhibition games and the team's minor league affiliate Charlotte Rangers. The ballpark has also hosted college baseball tournaments and the South Coast League Charlotte County Redfish.