The north east end of Lower Matecumbe Key held ancient water wells, the only fresh water on the Upper Keys, used by Indians, sailors, and traders in the seventeenth century, with a huge Indian midden near the wells. Indian Key was a Spanish trading post established by Antonio Gomez about 1695. Lignumvitae Key was a Spanish outpost with Indian burial grounds. About 1549, Hernando De Escalante Fontaneda, son of a Spanish comendero serving King Philip II in Carthegena, was shipwrecked on the Keys while en route to Spain for schooling, was held prisoner by Caloosa Indians for 17 years, and his Memoirs became the first detailed description of Florida.