<P> The Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park is a privately owned 15 - acre (61,000 m) park in St. Augustine, Florida, located along Hospital Creek, part of the Intracoastal Waterway . It has been touted as the likely 1513 Florida landing site of Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon, although no evidence has been found to substantiate this claim . Recent research by amateur historian Douglas Peck has placed another possible landing site in the vicinity of Melbourne Beach in Brevard County . The park contains an artesian well claimed to be the freshwater source referred to by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas in his Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del mar Océano and supposedly sought by Ponce de Leon, but there is no supporting evidence . Archaeological excavations made by Dr. Kathleen Deagan on the park's grounds in the 1990s uncovered remains of the first Spanish settlement and its fortifications in St. Augustine . </P> <P> Beginning in the 1860s, there were a series of small attractions on the grounds of the present - day Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park . These attractions showcased a spring and the attractive grounds surrounding it . The attraction was enlarged by Luella Day McConnell in 1904 . "Diamond Lil", as she was known, fabricated stories to amuse and appall the city's residents and tourists until her accidental death in 1927 . </P> <P> The Park was purchased in 1927 by Walter B. Fraser, a Georgia resident who soon relocated to St. Augustine, Florida and became active in local politics . During the 1930s Fraser organized St. Augustine's first formal restoration movement, which was the forerunner of the preservation program which eventually became the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board . The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 . </P> <P> From 1933--1943 Fraser served on the City Commission, the last seven of those years as mayor . During that time he purchased the Oldest Orange Grove and the Oldest School House . He built WFOY radio and purchased the Markland estate adjacent to the Ponce de Leon Hotel, and served in the Florida Senate from 1944--48 . </P>

Ponce de leon fountain of youth archaeological park