Description
Benjamin Moody is the first recorded settler in what is today's Riverview, establishing a homestead in 1842. In 1856, the small town of Peru (pronounced Pee-Roo) was founded on the Alafia River's south shore where today's US 301 crosses the river. The river's name, Alafia, is often believed to derive from an Indian word meaning "River of Fire," likely due to the phosphorus on the early river bottom that glowed during the night. Later settlers, because of the inconvenience in crossing the Alafia River, began settling on the north side of the Alafia River and during the 1890´s a new town arose: Riverview. A bridge between the two communities, built with lumber from a dismantled Tampa bridge, linked the communities in the late nineteenth century. By the 1940s, the Riverview name had been adopted for the combined communities and Peru faded from history. Today, Riverview is South County's largest and most populous community.
Language
