Memorial Teems with History Timucuan Village Focus of New Mural

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Ed Watkins, a volunteer at the newly redesigned visitor center

at Fort Caroline National Memorial, is one of perhaps only a few

people in Jacksonville who knows how to make casina .

It was the caffeine-heavy "black drink" of the Timucuan Indians,

made from yaupon holly leaves.

To a recent visitor, the stuff smelled a little like hay, and

tasted awful.

"It can get pretty bitter, especially if you cook it down a

little too much," Watkins warns.

A new informational area on casina, including pictures of holly

leaves and a shell dipper used to drink it, is just one small

part of this …