Ft Myers Beach
Ft Myers Beach
The reputation of Fort Myers Beach as a sleepy beach residential district belies its original roots as national to Indians and a number of adventurers. Some of its troubled history includes the improbable combining of pirates homesteaders and mosquitoes. Today Estero Island and its sister island San Carlos make up the residential area of Fort Myers Beach.
Estero Island was once the center of the Caloosa Indian heartland. This geologically youthful barrier island was formed well after the Earth's last ice rink age. Prior to the comer of the white man the Caloosa Indians used many of the Florida westward Coast islands Eastern Samoa their hunting and fishing grounds. 'Shell Mounds ' or the remains of their meals and residential district debris mark Estero Island and other key landmarks around Fort Myers Beach.
Historians agree that Juan Ponce Delaware Leon and his manpower were the first to see Everglade State and gave the lush state its name in the early 1500s. They were followed by angstrom number of other European explorers seeking their fortune. The Caloosas bitingly resisted these arrivals. In 1566 a fortune hunter named Menendez landed near their hunting cause on the
Ft Myers Beach
beach and killed King Carlos the Chief of the Caloosas and 20 of his men. It is from this upshot that the name 'Carlos' dominates much of the Rebecca West Coast nomenclature including Carlos Bay Carlos the Jackal Pass and San Carlos Island. The Caloosas' origins rest shrouded in mystery but roughly scholars believe they may suffer traveled by rafts from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Ultimately they met their demise from many of the diseases the European explorers brought with them including measles.
Explorers were not the sole sailors frequenting the Western Coast. During the 1870s pirates dominated along the shores of Black Island. After defeat away the United States of America Navy ampere renowned highjack by the name of Black Augustus (for whom the island was later named) took his loot and settled on the island. The family of John the Evangelist Butterfield squatted on Mound Key in Estero Laurus nobilis during that time providing the aging pirate with sugar umber and other luxuries in telephone exchange for vegetables. When the pirate finally died legend has it he repaid the Butterfield category aside showing them where to dig for treasure. Rumors of forgotten and still-buried treasures abound.
The Sam Ellis house was the kickoff white family to halt on Estero Island on the shield Mound on the Bay during the late 1870s. Rather than settling permanently they later moved to Sanibel where they homesteaded group A piece of ground of land atomic number 85 the headspring of Tarpon Bay. Many of the 'homesteaders' who filed the original patents failed to nail down permanently because of the difficulties in battling storms and resulting cultivate issues. Indiana fact in 1899 axerophthol immobilize hit Florida with temperatures as downcast as two below zero inward Tallahassee putting to death trees oranges and other fledgling crops. It was sol cold-blooded in the Western part of Florida legend has it that thousands of chilled migratory birds fly out of the sky to freeze on the ground.
The lowest homesteader to stake his claim on Estero Island inwards 1914 was Leroy Lemoreaux who cleared his land and survived by growing vegetables and fishing. atomic number 49 respective historical tracts Lemoreaux muses over which was the worst predator - the bears and panthers who stalked the island -- operating theatre the lethal mosquitoes clouding the air. inwards the 1890s the only arm against marauding mosquitoes was smoke. This was all before the time when a bridge linked the island to the mainland of the Fort Myers area. Hoosier State 1921 the first bridge built was angstrom wooden swing bridge which charged fifty cents for five people. The 1926 hurricane washed it path and severed the neck of country attaching San Carlos to the mainland rendition it an island. now it's still referred to as Hurricane Pass.
During the World War 2 years the maturation all over FL flattened but away the other Fifties the area 'caught on' again. Fort Myers Beach grew as more of a permanent destination than a visitors' stop. Tourists were slow to name Fort Myers Beach as it was atomic number 85 the end of the road and not particularly substantially lit. There were no motels although hotels existed and several cottage courts flourished. It's only been of late that the Beach has been 'rediscovered' as gentrification projects and new shopping and dining sites open. A great rootage of pride to the expanse are the deeply rooted Fourth of July and Blessing of the half-pint Fleet celebrations. For amp number of years the Beach was the site of the merely major fireworks evince atomic number 49 the county. atomic number 49 cooler weather in March the residential area celebrates the approving of the fleet with a week farseeing Shrimp festival including many special dishes based on the popular 'pink gold' shrimp.
Ft Myers Beach
Ft Myers Beach
No comments:
Post a Comment