Archaeological evidence shows that Native peoples thrived here during the Weeden Island and Fort Walton periods, between 700 and 1600 A.D. Their cultures evolved over time in response to changing climates, shifting populations, and the bounty of natural resources. Ceramics and shellfish remains found at Oaks by the Bay show that St. Andrews Bay was a vital place for gathering food and making tools.
By the 1500s, when Spanish explorers began mapping the Gulf Coast, the Chatot (Chatato, Chacato, Chactoo), a small Muskogean-speaking tribe, and Yuchi (or Euchee) inhabited this area. The arrival of Europeans, however, brought devastating change. Many Indigenous People vanished soon after contact, part of the tragic loss that claimed more than 90 percent of Florida’s Native population. The Chatot were last documented in the early 1800s, and it is thought those who remained joined with neighboring Choctaw and newly formed Seminole groups.
The Yuchi were a distinct tribe in the Southeastern United States known for their unique and unrelated language, known as Uchean. At the time of first European contact, the Yuchi people lived in what is now eastern Tennessee. In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto described them as a powerful tribe. In the 18th century, they became associated with the Muscogee (Creek) Confederacy and participating in the Creek War, and also migrated south into the Florida panhandle, while others joined with newly forming Seminole tribal groups. In the 1830s, the Yuchi were forcibly removed with the Muscogee to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Today, the Yuchi people are enrolled in federally recognized tribes, particularly the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, who host the Euchee Language Program.
In 1996, archaeologists Judith A. Bense and Norma J. Harris conducted shovel tests at the Buena Vista Site (8BY878) uncovering more than 550 artifacts. This site includes remnants of a Native American settlement occupied during the Fort Walton Culture between AD 1200 and 1500. This culture is identified mainly by their distinctive pottery which is abundant on their settlements. The findings of the 1996 study offered a
The Oaks by the Bay site itself has seen many transformations. Around 1870, Lambert Milbank Ware purchased 40 acres that included the site, which later hosted the Scenic Motel in the 1960s. By 1995, the motel was gone, and the City of Panama City acquired the property with support from Florida Communities Trust. It was preserved as a passive green space, home to towering oaks, walking paths, and waterfront access, while also protecting the archaeological treasures beneath its soil.
