Editing El Portal, Florida (section)

==History==
The '''Village of El Portal''' is a small, diverse [[enclave]] between [[Miami Shores]] and [[Miami]]. It was [[Incorporation (municipal government)|incorporated]] on December 6, 1937. The enclave was originally the capital of the [[Tequesta]] tribal area, and was visited by [[Pedro Menéndez de Avilés]] in the 1560s.<ref name="elportalvillage.com">{{Cite web|url=http://elportalvillage.com/archives/|title=Village Archives - El Portal Village|website=El Portal Village|language=en-US|access-date=April 18, 2016}}</ref> Three small subdivisions (now [[neighborhood]]s)—Sherwood Forest, El Jardin ([[Spanish language|Spanish]] for "The Garden"), and El Portal—merged into the Village of El Portal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elportalvillage.com/archives/ | title=Village Archives — The History of El Portal |publisher=Village of El Portal | access-date = May 24, 2010}}</ref> Its borders include 91st Street on the north, the Little River Canal on the south, Northeast Fifth Avenue on the east and Northwest Fifth Avenue on the west.

The village's name is a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] term meaning "the gate," referring to two huge wooden gates on Northeast Second Avenue that were taken down in the 1940s.<ref name="elportalvillage.com"/>

The village was designated as a bird sanctuary by the state for more than 50 years, which means that the birds and trees cannot be harmed in any way. A nature trail winds its way through the village. El Portal also boasts links to prehistoric Indian life at the Little River Mound, a four-foot-high, innocuous grassy knoll that is actually an ancient burial ground. The Little River Mound, located in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood, is the first archaeological site to be publicly recognized and preserved in [[Miami-Dade County]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.realmiamibeach.com/content/Miami.aspx |title=Miami Real Estate and Area Information |website=www.realmiamibeach.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524190401/http://www.realmiamibeach.com/content/Miami.aspx |archive-date=May 24, 2007}}</ref>