Juan Ponce de Leon Landing
This 25.57-acre beach park includes beach crossovers, a pavilion, restrooms, and parking. It commemorates Juan Ponce de León’s 1513 landing near Melbourne Beach, Florida. Despite misconceptions by past historians portraying him as a vain conquistador seeking a fountain of youth, Colonel Douglas T. Peck, a respected Florida historian, debunked this notion through extensive research. His findings place Ponce de León’s landing in Melbourne Beach, 125 miles south of the previously accepted site in St. Augustine.
Colonel Peck, a retired US Air Force Command Pilot and historian of early Spanish exploration, meticulously retraced the voyage using Ponce de León’s navigational log. His scholarly works, published in academic journals and media outlets, including The Florida Historical Quarterly and A&E Channel, attest to the accuracy of the landing site.
Juan Ponce de León, the first Westerner to reach Florida, accompanied Columbus in 1493 and played a crucial role in the conquest of Higuey. After discovering gold in Boriquén in 1508, he governed Puerto Rico until 1512. Intrigued by tales of a rich island called Bimini, north of Cuba, he secured a commission in 1512 to colonize the land, sparking the legend of seeking a youth-restoring spring.
On March 3, 1513, Ponce de León set sail from Puerto Rico, reaching Melbourne Beach on April 2nd. Naming the land La Florida during the Easter feast, he explored the coast from Brevard County to Key West and up to Cape Romano, contributing significantly to early Spanish exploration and colonization in the southeastern United States.