Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 35

Koreshan State Park

Estero, Florida

Tuesday, March 5, 2024    

Koreshan Power Plant (Fairbanks Morse Diesel Engine connected to 50 kilowatt alternator, water pump, etc...)

Marc- We visited with friends Donna and Frank Maher who have moved to Bonita Springs, next door to Estero.  Sue also continued her tour of the Quilt shops going to Naples and finding the most impressive shop.  We did some shopping in the ever present Publix supermarket nearby (there are multiple Publix supermarkets in many towns in many parts of Florida).  I continued exploring the State Park hiking trails and the historic village here.  It is amazing how the Koreshan cult developed this wilderness area in the late 19th century to form their utopian community.  They also helped the general area by supplying electricity and other services to the surrounding area 30 years before the State utilities existed.  

There is extensive bamboo growing on the shores of the Estero River.

Young bamboo (a panda bear's paradise).

Cactus vines growing on a palm tree.

Woodworking shop at Koreshan.

Fairbanks Morse type Z gasoline engine used to power the woodworking shop.

Religious residence.  Women lived on the first two floors and one man lived on the top floor. 

A more typical cult member residence.

Bedroom in the religious residence.  Note the mosquito netting over the bed.

Quilts were popular in the 19th century.

Water tank conserving rainwater.

Koreshan cult beliefs.

The Koreshan cult died off in the early 1960's.  

Sue- This is a high end shop.  There is a huge amount of brightly color fabric - so many prints!  Lots of beautiful hanging quilts.  There are packages of a few fabrics each that I do not understand - they are not kits, there are no instructions, no mention of how much fabric they contain - and I didn't ask what they are.  No one working there spoke to us until I went to the counter with a purchase.  This is so unlike every other quilt shop we've visited.  They have more of the Alice in Wonderland "Curiouser and Curiouser" line and I bought what was left on one of the bolts, which was about 1-1/3 yards.  I have quite a few of the fabrics in this line, but this is the first one of all cats.  They also have what we are calling "Big Alice," a big image of Alice, which we've seen previously, and don't care for.  This store's grade is a B.  Although it is the highest end store we've seen yet, it is lower on cozy vibes.  

Naples Flash Sew & Quilt shop.

Some of the work displayed in the quilt shop.

 

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.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 33

Moore Haven KOA

Moore Haven, Florida

Sunday, March 3, 2024   

Gopher Tortoise at Koreshan State Park

Marc-  We spent the day visiting with Roberta, Barbara & Michael in Fort Myers and the surrounding area.  One stop was a drive over to Koreshan State Park to view our campsite for the coming week and preview the park.  We encountered a Gopher tortoise during our tour (interesting creatures that live up to 60 years).  There were no Park Rangers at the front gate when we arrived so we obtained little new information.  

When we awoke this morning Sue noticed cattle in the pasture just outside our campground.  I ventured over for a closer look.  This group was interesting to watch.  The large brown cow at right was being followed by five calves that she also seemed to be looking after.  Clearly they are not all hers.  I have never seen a cow have more than twins.  Dairy farmers in Vermont separate the calves from their mothers at an early age.  I have no experience with beef cattle practices.

Our second herd experience was several miles down the road.  Clearly the calves stay with their mothers in the pastures.  The ranches in this part of Florida do not seem to have any barn structures.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 32

Moore Haven KOA

Moore Haven, Florida

Saturday, March 2, 2024  

December 2021 photo of the Sanibel Lighthouse

Today's photo of Sanibel Lighthouse under wraps for sandblasting and painting

Marc-  Today with Roberta we visited Sanibel and Captiva Islands just Northwest of Fort Myers.  Our first stop was a walk on Sanibel Beach to visit the Lighthouse and find some seashells.  Sanibel is famous for its quantities of seashells.  The beach seemed the same as it was in 2021 when we visited here.  The Lighthouse Point and the lighthouse structures were significantly altered.  Hurricane Ian on September 28, 2022 devastated Lighthouse Point taking away approximately 300 feet of shoreline and all of the wooden US Coast Guard structures including two Lighthouse keepers homes and a machinery shed.  The Lighthouse and the 3 structures were built in 1884 and had withstood previous storms.  Many of the hotels and homes on both Sanibel and Captiva were destroyed or severely damaged by the hurricane.  The beaches and most of the vegetation have recovered.  We also visited the Shell museum and aquarium, as well as the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  The birds have returned and the fishermen reported good fishing.

Sanibel and Captiva Islands are the two Southern Islands connected by bridges.

Our favorite restaurant on Sanibel has survived and reopened.  The food is still excellent.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 31

Moore Haven KOA

Moore Haven, Florida

Wednesday, March 1, 2024   

Lovers Key State Park

Marc-  We spent the day with Roberta, starting with a visit to Lovers Key.  It is the island just to the South of Ft. Myers Beach which is itself a barrier island.  The State Park is undergoing renovations on its Northern end including replacement of the drawbridge connecting it to Ft. Myers Beach.  This is due to damage done by Hurricane Ian on 9-28-2022.  The Park is open using its Southern entrance.  We spent the morning walking the beach.  We moved on to visit Ft. Myers Beach and then met up with Barbara and Michael at the brand new Margaritaville where we had lunch.  Then we walked more on Ft. Myer's Beach.  There were alot of people there, and it was a beautiful day.  So much work has been done since last year, but there is still so much more to do.  Some places have been fixed and are open again, some have been so wrecked they have been torn down and now are empty lots, and there are many places that are wrecked and we can't tell if they will be torn down or re-built.  There are not enough trades people to fix everything at once.

Puffer fish at Lovers Key.

Osprey nest near the beach.

Heavy equipment removing downed trees from the beach.

Special equipment sifting out debris from the beach sand.

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One of many reconstruction crews working at Ft. Myers Beach.

This place is awaiting help.

These two photos are from the Wyndham Hotel where we stayed in 2018.  The place was old (built in 1969) but very nice and literally on the Beach.  It cannot be rebuilt as is, will have to be built up (on stilts) and people we spoke to at the site said they don't know yet what will happen with it, but probably a high rise building of some sort will be built there eventually.

The first floor rooms were all destroyed by the 12 foot storm surge from Hurricane Ian.  

Margaritaville, a new beachfront resort on Ft. Myers Beach.  

Meeting with friends at the Resort for lunch.

Great beach access.

Margaritaville mascot.

We checked out a marina for possible future use and found this large aluminum military craft tied up.

PTF-26 is a 95 foot Vietnam & Cold War United States Navy fast patrol boat owned by the Paducah, Kentucky-based non-profit Maritime Training Foundation, Ltd. PTF-26 is one of the larger, aluminum-hulled sisters of the wooden Nasty-Class PTFs used during World War II.  This boat was capable of making 51 knots.  It is the final of 841 total PT-type boats built for the US Navy 1940-1968, PTF-26 earns the distinction of being “THE LAST AMERICAN PT BOAT”.