Winter Solstice Event at Shell Mound December 21 from 4:00 to sunset

Sun setting over Palmetto Mound with an overcast sky in 2019

A group of Friends members and visitors watching the sun set over Palmetto Mound on a blustery Winter Solstice day in 2018

Friends will host a Winter Solstice event at Shell Mound on Tuesday December 21 starting at 4:00 and ending with the setting of the sun near Palmetto Mound. All are welcome, rain or shine, and the event is free. For the past several years, the weather has been cold, overcast, rainy, even stormy. It has nevertheless been a wonderful place to be for the solstice. This year, we hope for warmer and sunnier.

Why at Shell Mound? Shell Mound is a large shell-bearing archaeological site that was once the location of special gatherings for Native American groups across the broader region. This 10-page booklet tells the Shell Mound story. 

A major part of the story is that Shell Mound is on one of the arms of a huge, U-shaped dune, much of which has eroded since it was formed by ice-age winds. The dune is aligned with the solstices. The sun sets near the open end of the dune and rises over the closed end, as the booklet linked above relates.

Palmetto Mound is at the other end of the two arms at the open end of the dune. Native peoples buried their dead at Shell Mound, near where the sun sets at Winter Solstice. Shell Mound is a sacred and storied site. You will hear more if you can come and join the event.

The event will include:

• Guided walks for those who chose them at Dennis Creek (about one-mile) and Shell Mound (about 1/2-mile) trails. The walks will begin at 4:15 at the trail-head parking area on the left as you come down the road toward the Shell Mound pier which is at the very end of the road. You can park at the trail-head, or come to the pier parking and walk back to the trail-head. The walks will last about 30 minutes. 
• Some of the SongFarmers of Cedar Key will provide music by the pier.
• Friends will provide light snacks and stories about the place and its history. 
• Nature will provide the Winter Solstice sun setting near Palmetto Mound.

Friends members and visitors hoping the overcast lifts enough to see the sun set.

It lifted, just enough to be magical

See our blog posts from earlier Winter Solstices here:

• 2017
• 2018
• 2019
• unfortunately, none from the pandemic year