Every Map Tells a Story

Every Map Tells a Story is a docent-led tour at the Tampa Bay History Center on Friday, October 30, from 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM. It's part of the museum's ongoing gallery tour series, where you spend a half hour looking at artifacts, maps, photographs, and other items from the collections while a docent tells the researched stories of the people and events that shaped Tampa Bay.

This particular tour uses maps as a way into the lives of Florida's early inhabitants. It starts with indigenous communities and Spanish explorers, moves through the settlers and pioneers who came later, and follows the military roads that linked Florida's early communities. The maps aren't just there for you to look at; they're the starting point for the stories the docent tells about the people who lived through those eras.

Leading the tour is docent Jim Dinsmore. He spent time working in communications for local non-profits before moving to Tampa, and he developed his appreciation for maps as more than just tools for finding your way after spending time at the History Center. That's the kind of perspective he brings to the session—treating maps as windows into the past rather than just old pieces of paper.

The tour is free and included with admission to the museum. It runs from 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM on Friday, October 30, at the Tampa Bay History Center, 801 Water Street, Tampa, FL 33602.