Before St. Petersburg was the Sunshine City, some early promoters tested a less beachy moniker: The City of Mounds. It might be surprising to learn that the area was dotted with Native American mounds of all sizes and shapes, most notably a complex of a least a dozen mounds close to the Tampa Bay shoreline around the vicinity of Booker Creek, Bayboro Harbor, and Mound Park Hospital, better known today as Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.

According to Robert J. Austin in an article published by the Florida Anthropological Society, the Shell Mound at Mound Park Hospital –  estimated to be about 20-25-feet tall with a diameter of 90-feet – was one of the most photographed mounds in Florida and a prominent tourist attraction for the growing City of St.… Read More

It must have been quite a sight to drive by the Museum of Fine Arts and see 120 Boston Terriers and their owners posing for a photo on the museum steps. Definitely a reason for a double-take. But this is St. Petersburg and we love our fur children so, it’s not really that surprising.

The occasion was the 4th annual Boston Terrier Pet Parade, held in December on the weekend closest to the anniversary of the Revolutionary War-era Boston Tea Party. Last year was the 248th anniversary of the infamous day when the ‘Sons of Liberty’ boarded a British ship and tossed a shipment of tea into Boston Harbor as a protest.… Read More

When the grandaddy of independent bookstores in St. Petersburg, Haslam’s, closed its doors at the start of the pandemic, no one thought it would be forever. A staple for local readers since the Great Depression, Haslam’s current 30,000-square-foot building is also prime real estate on Central Avenue. 

While rumors abound, dogged persistence by Tampa Bay Times reporters revealed in June that the famous Haslam Bookstore cats have been rehomed – at least for now. And third-generation owners Suzanne and Ray Hinst are “undecided” about the future.

The shuttering of Haslam’s leaves a sizable hole in the independent bookstore scene, but there’s still a lot for book lovers in the Bay Area to love, from traditional new and used sellers to hybrid shops and pop-ups.… Read More

Many birds in St. Petersburg were on the verge of extinction in the late 1800s. This was because their feathers had become unbelievably valuable. For example, the snowy egret’s fluffy mating feathers fetched thirty-two dollars an ounce – the same as the price of gold. Feathers had become quite fashionable, especially when displayed on women’s hats. The throat pouches of pelicans were made into tobacco pouches. There was even a market for wild bird eggs. The killing of birds for their feathers had become an industry for many hunters. And one of the most notorious of these was Jean Chevelier.