Randy Shots(COCOA, Fla.) — A Florida photographer on an early-morning bike ride the day after Hurricane Irma ravaged the coast stumbled upon an exciting find: a dugout canoe that may be hundreds of years old, according to officials.
“As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what it was,” Randy Lathrop, a self-proclaimed history buff, told ABC News of his unusual discovery.
The canoe washed up from the Indian River, north of Cocoa, Florida, along what locals have dubbed Florida’s “Space Coast” for its proximity to the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
“I can look across the river and see the launch pad and the vehicle assembly building. It’s a real contrast,” Lathrop said of the area where the canoe was found, which is steeped in Native American history.
He immediately contacted the Florida Division of Historical Resources before someone could mistake it for debris and throw it away.
“It looked just like a log,” said Lathrop. “My main concern was to secure it from harm’s way. I was able to go half a mile away and get my friend with a truck and we struggled to get into the back of the truck. It weighs almost 700 pounds, but…
The post Canoe unearthed by Hurricane Irma could be hundreds of years old appeared first on FeedBox.