2. Ponce De Leon and the Fountain of Youth
Ponce de Leon, who made his first journey to the New World with Christopher Columbus on the latter explorer’s second voyage, is linked in American folklore as exploring Florida and other Spanish claims in a vain search for the mythical Fountain of Youth, which he learned of from the natives. De Leon made several voyages of discovery among the islands of the American coastline and the Caribbean, and led several expeditions on land, though there is no mention in any of his logs, letters, or reports of a Fountain of Youth, nor his seeking it out. Instead, his efforts were directed toward colonization, gold, and conversion of the natives he encountered to Christianity, which in the case of Spain meant Roman Catholicism. Not until he was dead was he linked to the Fountain of Youth.
Gonzalo De Oviedo was the first to report of de Leon’s strange search after the latter died, when he could no longer deny it, and claimed that the explorer had been seeking the Fountain as a cure for his sexual impotence. The evidence presented by the existence of the late explorer’s several children was ignored. Later writers, including Americans, took up the tale of the search, despite the complete lack of any evidence. The tourist industry added to the story, with statues of the explorer and various waterways and springs claiming to have been visited by Ponce de Leon on his futile search. The Florida Fountain of Youth Archaelogical Park claims to be the oldest tourist attraction in the state, with guest books dating to the mid-nineteenth century, exploiting the folklore of Ponce de Leon.