Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 34

Koreshan State Park

Estero, Florida

Monday, March 4, 2024    

One of two well made bridges in the Park

Marc-  This Park was formerly the site of the Koreshan Unity Settlement:  A communal society created in the late 19th Century similar to the Shakers, the Mormons, and the Harmonists.  The founder, Dr. Cyrus Teed, brought his followers from Chicago to Estero in 1894 to create a "New Jerusalem," a utopia.  The founding ideas centered around communal living and communal property based on Christian values.  The community eventually died out, and in 1963 the land was donated to the Florida Park System.  The park today is filled with tropical vegetation such as palm trees, live oaks, various flowering plants, and the Estero River running through it.  The original Koreshan community structures remain and have been maintained by the Park Service.

A wandering gopher tortoise.

Community bridge.

African tulip tree.

Bougainvillea

Coral bean.

Paddling on the Estero River.