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De Soto National Memorial, Bradenton, FL

Photo: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sightseeing

De Soto National Memorial

A National Park Service memorial near Bradenton marking Hernando de Soto's 1539 arrival in Tampa Bay.

8300 De Soto Memorial Hwy, Bradenton, FL 34209 · Bradenton, FL

About De Soto National Memorial

This National Park Service memorial sits where the Manatee River meets Tampa Bay, about five miles west of Bradenton. It commemorates Hernando de Soto's 1539 landing and the early large-scale European exploration of the southern United States. The memorial's roughly 27 acres include shoreline, and much of the land is mangrove swamp. Visitors can join ranger-led kayak tours in summer, reserved through Recreation.gov, and the park also runs living history programs and seasonal events.

  • #national memorial
  • #history
  • #Spanish exploration
  • #mangroves
  • #kayaking

What's around here?

The closest stops to De Soto National Memorial, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Museums

    Manatee County Agricultural Museum

    No admission fee

    A county museum in Palmetto, Florida, focused on local farming history and agriculture, with rotating exhibits and hands-on learning programs.

    4.2 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Bradenton Riverwalk

    Check prices

    Waterfront park along the Manatee River offering a riverside walking path, fishing, beach volleyball, and a skatepark.

    5.0 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Museums

    Anna Maria Island Historical Society Museum

    Check prices

    A local history museum on Anna Maria Island housed in a former 1920s icehouse building.

    5.6 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Museums

    Manatee Village Historical Park

    No admission fee

    Open-air historical museum in Bradenton with preserved buildings showing Manatee County life from the 1840s to 1918.

    6.2 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Sunshine Skyway Bridge

    Under $25

    Drive over Tampa Bay on a four-mile cable-stayed bridge, or view the whole span from the old-bridge fishing piers.

    7.0 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing
    History Buff

    Ybor City

    No admission fee

    Stroll 7th Avenue in Tampa's historic Latin Quarter for cigar shops, hand rollers, free-roaming chickens and the Columbia Restaurant.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    33 mi awayMore like this

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