Palm Beach County Centennial and Archaeology Talk

The Palm Beach County Planning Congress hosted a talk at the South Florida Water Management District headquarters yesterday which featured Harvey Oyer and Christian Davenport. Harvey Oyer comes from a long time native Palm Beach County family. He talked about the early formation of Palm Beach County and the early settlements in south Florida. He recited the progression from Mosquito County to the present Palm Beach County as we know it today. Christian Davenport, the County's Archaeologist gave a presentation on the 2007 Lake Okeechobee finds when the lake was at record low levels. The range included pottery and related items from around 200 A.D, to more contemporary tourist history and remnants from the 1920s. It turns out that the lake area was the first economically successful region of the County - catfish was a big money maker. All left their traces in the form of physical remains we can study now to give us clues about how those that came before us lived. Both were eye-opening windows to the past.