What is the Fountain of Youth?
In the 16th century, the story of the Fountain of Youth became recognized by conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León, the first Governor of Puerto Rico, was charged with discovering the land of Beniny (the indigenous people were more than likely describing the land of the Maya in Yucatán). According to an apocryphal combination of New World and Eurasian elements, Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he traveled to what is now Florida in 1513. The legend says that Ponce de Leon was told by Native Americans that the Fountain of Youth could restore youth to anyone who bathed in the fountain.
Traveller's Tales, by Rev. H.C. Adams, 1927 