10/12/2026
Indigenous Peoples Day
Did you know the wetlands of Palm Beach County have been home to Indigenous people for thousands of years?
October 9 is Indigenous Peoples Day, a time to recognize and learn about the Indigenous peoples who have lived on and cared for the landscapes we enjoy today.
Before heading out onto the Green Cay boardwalk, take a moment to stop in our Visitor Center and see our Indigenous Glades people mural. The mural shares the story of Dragonfly, a member of the Moonflower clan, and provides a glimpse into the lives of the Indigenous people who once traveled throughout the wetlands of South Florida.
For approximately 2,500 years, Indigenous Glades communities lived and traveled throughout the area south and east of Lake Okeechobee. Their movements followed the seasons, water levels, and availability of plants and wildlife.
The wetlands were their resource.
Native plants provided food, medicine, fibers, and materials. Wildlife provided food and other useful resources. Cypress trees could be used to make canoes, allowing people to navigate the waterways and marshes.
As Dragonfly explains in the mural:
“We travel from place to place as the seasons of earth tell us to do.”
During Florida's rainy season, rising water levels could even open new routes through the marshes toward the coast.
Archaeology continues to tell us more about this history. More than 150 Indigenous archaeological sites have been identified in Palm Beach County, providing evidence of the people who lived in and traveled through this landscape.
Want to learn more?
Join Green Cay for a free, docent-led Ethnobotany Talk & Tour with Ron Seifer. Discover how Indigenous people used the native plants of South Florida while exploring the Green Cay boardwalk.
Saturdays
10:00 a.m.
Sign up at the Nature Center information desk.
The next time you walk the Green Cay boardwalk, remember that you're exploring a landscape with a thousands-of-years-old human history. Take a closer look at the plants, water, and wildlife around you—you may be seeing the same natural resources that sustained Indigenous communities for generations.
Come explore. Come learn. Come discover the history of our wetlands.
Information and Insite were provided by Ron Seifer for this article.
