Florida has been home to people for thousands of years. How they lived on our landscape is part of an upcoming production from Into Nature Films.
Our work took us to the University of Florida campus where the Florida Museum of Natural History preserves some of Florida’s rich heritage. We talked with one of Florida’s premiere experts on Florida’s ancient people, Dr. William Marquardt. This is when we learned of a fantastic figure carved so long ago of native pine called the Padgett Figurine.
The figurine was found by Robert Padgett in a plowed field near Lake Okeechobee in 1929 when the Everglades was being drained. The Padgett family cared for the cat-like human figure for three generations before donating this valuable artifact to the people of Florida in 2013.
Now, this precious figure is carefully curated in controlled conditions. We can only imagine the meaning of this surviving legacy of one of Florida’s early civilizations. Created by human hands from a pine tree, we are reminded of our close connection to nature.
Each generation of humans leaves a little bit of themselves behind.
What will be our legacy?
May we leave something equally as beautiful as the Padgett figurine.
Enjoy this beautiful work of art crafted by a now silent culture.