American Toby Jug Museum 

Ponce de Leon character jug produced in Japan circa 1940. Juan Ponce de Leon (1474 - 1521) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida and for serving as the first governor of Puerto Rico. He first came to the Americas as a "gentleman volunteer" with Christopher Columbus's second expedition in 1493. In 1513, Ponce de Leon led the first known European expedition to La Florida, which he named during his first voyage to the area. He landed somewhere along Florida's east coast, then charted the Atlantic coast down to the Florida Keys and north along the Gulf coast. In popular culture he was supposedly searching for the Fountain of Youth, but there is no contemporary evidence to support this. In March 1521, Ponce de Leon returned to southwest Florida with the first large-scale attempt to establish a Spanish colony in what is now the continental United States. However, the native Calusa people fiercely resisted the incursion, and Ponce de Leon was seriously wounded in a skirmish. He died from his wounds soon after returning to Cuba. This jug celebrates de Leon's search for the Fountain of Youth near St. Augustine, Florida, and has a large feather for a handle.