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Collier County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, its population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from Everglades City in 1962.
DeSoto County is a county located in the Florida Heartland region of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,976. Its county seat is Arcadia. DeSoto County comprises the Arcadia, Florida Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the North Port-Bradenton, Florida Combined Statistical Area.
Captiva is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lee County, Florida, United States. It is located on Captiva Island. As of the 2020 census, the population was 318, down from 583 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Fort Myers is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,395; it was estimated to have grown to 95,949 in 2022, making it the 25th-most populous city in Florida. Together with the larger and more residential city of Cape Coral, it anchors the Cape Coral–Fort Myers metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Lee County and has a population of 834,573 as of 2023.
Pineland is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) on Pine Island in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 466 at the 2020 census, up from 407 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Calusa were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years.
Pine Island Sound is located in Lee County, Florida, lying between Pine Island and the barrier islands of Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, North Captiva Island and Cayo Costa, which separate the Sound from the Gulf of Mexico. The Sound connects to Gasparilla Sound and Charlotte Harbor to the north, and to San Carlos Bay and the Caloosahatchee River to the south. The Sound is conterminous with the Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve, which was established in 1970 and consists of 54,000 acres (220 km2) of submerged land. Important habitats in the Sound include mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes, oyster communities, tidal flats and sponge beds. All animals in and around Pine Island sound, including mollusks, fish, birds and mammals, are affected by periodic outbreaks of red tide. The Sound is relatively shallow in many locations, and boaters are cautioned to utilize up-to-date charts and tide tables.
Estero Bay, Florida, is an estuary located on the west coast of the state southeast of Fort Myers Beach. The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is long and very shallow and covers about 15 square miles (39 km2). Estero Bay is bordered on the west by a chain of barrier islands: Estero Island, Long Key, Lovers Key, Black Island, Big Hickory Island, and Little Hickory Island. Four outlets give access to the Gulf of Mexico: Matanzas Pass, Big Carlos Pass, New Pass, and Big Hickory Pass. Incorporated places on the bay include Estero, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach. Two rivers, the Imperial River and the Estero River bring freshwater into the estuary. Tides play a major role in the functionality of the plant, crustaceans, mammals, and fish in the area. The bay is also the location of the Mound Key Archaeological State Park.
Key Marco was an archaeological site (8CR48) consisting of a large shell works island next to Marco Island, Florida. A small pond on Key Marco, now known as the "Court of the Pile Dwellers" (8CR49), was excavated in 1896 by the Smithsonian Institution's Pepper-Hearst Expedition, led by Frank Hamilton Cushing. Cushing recovered more than 1,000 wooden artifacts from the pond, the largest number of wooden artifacts from any prehistoric archaeological site in the eastern United States. These artifacts are described as some of the finest prehistoric Native American art in North America. The Key Marco materials are principally divided between the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania; the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; and the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida. The original pond was completely excavated and refilled. It is now covered by a housing subdivision. Excavations of small parts of the site were also conducted in 1965 and 1995.
The Belle Glade culture, or Okeechobee culture, is an archaeological culture that existed from as early as 1000 BCE until about 1700 CE in the area surrounding Lake Okeechobee and in the Kissimmee River valley in the Florida Peninsula.
Mound Key Archaeological State Park is a Florida State Park, located in Estero Bay, near the mouth of the Estero River. One hundred and thirteen of the island's one hundred and twenty-five acres are managed by the park system. It is a complex of mounds and accumulated shell, fish bone, and pottery middens that rises more than 30 feet above the waters of the bay.
The Rochester Museum & Science Center (RMSC) is a museum in Rochester, New York, dedicated to community education in science, technology and local history. The museum also operates the Strasenburgh Planetarium, located next to the museum, and the Cumming Nature Center, a 900-acre (3.6 km2) nature preserve near Naples, New York. The museum resides at 657 East Ave. and has a collection of 1.2 million artifacts.
Charlotte Harbor Estuary, the second largest bay in Florida, is located on the Gulf of Mexico coast of west Florida with two thirds lying in Charlotte County, Florida and one in Lee County. The harbor's mouth is located behind Gasparilla Island, one of the many coastal barrier islands on the southwest coast of Florida, with access from the Gulf of Mexico through the Boca Grande Pass between Gasparilla Island on the north and Lacosta Island on the south. Charlotte Harbor covers about 270 sq mi (700 km2)
Billy's Creek is a creek in Fort Myers, Florida. It is a tributary of the Caloosahatchee River and contains mangrove vegetation. The creek was named after the Seminole chief Billy Bowlegs who was forced to surrender there by United States forces in 1858. Billy's Creek has its beginnings as meandering water from a canal and is unique in that it is a scenic urban waterway and part of the Calusa Blueway. Joint efforts to improve water quality from various government agencies allowed the construction of the Billy's Creek Filter Marsh and adjacent nature park. This waterway is maintained by the Friends of Billy's Creek, a volunteer group in Lee County.
The indigenous people of the Everglades region arrived in the Florida peninsula of what is now the United States approximately 14,000 to 15,000 years ago, probably following large game. The Paleo-Indians found an arid landscape that supported plants and animals adapted to prairie and xeric scrub conditions. Large animals became extinct in Florida around 11,000 years ago.
The Imperial River is a river in southwest Florida in the United States. It is fed by the Kehl Canal and marshland at 26°22′16″N81°41′23″W, just east of the city limits of Bonita Springs in unincorporated southwest Lee County. It is approximately 9.3 miles (15.0 km) long, from its headwaters just east of I-75 in the Flint Pen Strand, through downtown Bonita Springs and to its mouth at the north end of Fishtrap Bay, near the southern end of Estero Bay. It was originally named Surveyors Creek before the city was developed. The river is part of The Great Calusa Blueway.
The Estero River is a 6.4-mile-long (10.3 km) waterway in south Lee County, Florida, United States, near the village of Estero. It flows from east to west, emptying into Estero Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico.
Fort Center is an archaeological site in Glades County, Florida, United States, a few miles northwest of Lake Okeechobee. It was occupied for more than 2,000 years, from 450 BCE until about 1700 CE. The inhabitants of Fort Center may have been cultivating maize centuries before it appeared anywhere else in Florida.
Matanzas Pass Preserve is a 60-acre (24 ha) area of protected land in Lee County, Florida, located one mile south of Matanzas Pass Bridge off Estero Boulevard on Estero Island in Fort Myers Beach. The preserve has trails and a paddle craft landing. It is along the Great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail.
