A ceremony for Snake Warrior's Island is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at 3601 SW 62nd Ave., north of County Line Road in east Miramar. The public is invited to the ceremony, which will include comments by Broward County commissioners and Miramar officials.
"It is a very special site because of both its historic and environmental value," Broward County Mayor Ilene Lieberman said.
For much of the 1900s, hunters, farmers and fisherman talked about hearing eerie, inexplicable sounds coming from the 53.3-acre swampy area. The legend dates to the 1890s, when white settlers took over the land from the Seminoles, who declared it a cursed place.
Historians even report settlers referred to "haints" -- evil ghosts or spirits -- inhabiting the area.
Over the years, the Henry Perry family used part of it as a dairy farm, and another piece of it was marked for development. But in 1992 the Florida Trust for Public Land paid $1.97 million to buy the site. The state is now leasing it to Broward County.
The site has never been open to the public, but county naturalists have conducted tours there.
Plans to put in trails, signs, benches and rest rooms have been discussed for about a decade, but concerns about money and preservation of American Indian artifacts brought delays.

(source) Sun Sentinel (Nick Sortal) 1-16-04