Mike Archer in the Orlando Sentinel, June 17, 2002:

Thousands of years before Christ, hunters prowled the St. Johns River near present-day Astor.

We consider these ancients to be primitive people, but in some ways their wisdom ran much deeper than ours. They formed a spiritual bond with the land and water that sustained them.

Through climate shift and subsequent changes in plants and animals, the forest dwellers watched the river evolve toward its present form. Waters deepened and filled with fish, crabs and mussels. The wandering hunters settled down, trusting the gifts of nature to nourish them. Descendants of the ancient Floridians lived with the river and surrounding forest for centuries, hunting, fishing, gathering and growing. They squabbled some, but carried a deep understanding of their relationship with all life.

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