ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Did the legend hold true that says the Tampa Bay area is protected from storms because of Native American burial mounds or a special Native American prayer?

That’s tough for some to answer, especially since one of the historic sites for the mounds suffered extensive damage.

The Sacred Lands sign was cracked by a tree that fell during Hurricane Helene, but the history tours there must go on.

“We suffered a lot of storm damage from Hurricane Helene. There’s the bay right there, and this area was under five or six feet of water where we’re standing right now,” said Sacred Lands Preservation and Education board president, David Anderson.

Anderson runs Discover Florida Tours and his family owns and operates the historic Sacred Lands site, home to mounds that belonged to the Native American Tocobaga people.

Their property raises a lot of questions.

“People ask, ‘is it a burial mound? How many bodies are there?’ And I tell them to the best of our knowledge, this is not a burial ground,” he said.

But he said it was an important place for the Tocobaga, with many believing it plays a vital role in protecting the Tampa Bay area from hurricanes.

“We don’t know a lot about what the Tocobaga ceremonial processes were,” said Catherine Wilkins, a historian and Sacred Lands Preservation and Education board member. “But probably like most native American people, they had a symbiotic relationship with nature and they would’ve done some sort of protection for themselves from natural disasters like hurricanes.”

She said with the recent storm surge and piles of debris inside of their greenhouse museum, that the legend seems like more of a myth.

“I will say that the Tocobaga mounds — the archeological site — was not damaged by the flood water. The flood water stopped just short of the mounds themselves. But that’s because they’re built up high, 12 feet above sea level. The Tocobaga knew they needed to get some elevation if they wanted to stay safe from the storm,” Wilkins said.

And that is enough to be thankful for after the recent storms. She said they’re holding a special Native American ceremony meant to show gratitude to the water and just how powerful it is, called the Thanksgiving address.

“I think this is the right place to have this particular ceremony. We’re right here on the water and the Thanksgiving address begins with gratitude to water, the source of all life and I think it will have a special resonance for people here in this community in the aftermath of this storm,” Wilkins said.