Dr. Annette Snapp, Charlotte County Historian, speaks at the LaBelle Heritage Museum. (Caloosa Belle/Geoffrey Ionescu)

Dr. Annette Snapp, Charlotte County Historian and no stranger to the LaBelle Heritage Museum (LHM) was the first speaker of 2018/19 season for the museum. Snapp talked about the importance of creating a ‘sense of place, “The heritage of a place is very important, take Saint Augustine for example, people go there for the history. LaBelle also has a lot of historic resources. The Fort Denaud cemetery for example or the LaBelle Heritage Museum itself,” Snapp says. “It is important to develop a sense of place, for the tourists as well as the people that live here. People develop a sense of space through experience and knowledge of a particular area and its history and geology. Also the natural history and the legends in the area. It is very important to keep telling the stories and the legends about the history of an area, because that’s what keeps an area alive and attractive. Each location has a different sense of place and each local history group is very important. Because we pay for people to take care of our national history, we have the Smithsonian for example, which takes care of the bigger picture. But these smaller stories are in our hands and it is a very important role that local history groups plays in the telling of these stories.”

Dr. Snapp also talked about finding and identifying certain local archaeological sites, how to determine what constitutes a site and how to scientifically examine them: “A pond cemetery near Titusville for example, they would bury people below the water with wooden stakes. Overtime this pond developed peat from vegetation continuously growing and dying. This peat preserved textiles, wood and even brain material, and by testing the brain material they found out that the family members were buried together,” Snapp explains.

Dr. Snapp also talked about how archeologist and museums can work together to develop a relationship with the local governmental agencies to create municipal and countywide historical commissions.

The next speaker hosted by the LHM will be bilingual storyteller Carrie Sue Ayvar on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.