I have been to Fort Myers Beach a million times and never knew we had a historic cottage there or the Matanzas Preserve. I thought the trip was amazing. The island itself is seven miles long. Mrs. Joe Hughes was the volunteer that told us all about the island. When she moved on the Beach there were only 23 families living there. In 1955, the 1st library was started on the island. Ladies went around and borrowed books from people in the area and put them in a little cottage, and that is what they called their library. When Mrs. Hughes was a little girl the predominant occupation on Fort Myers Beach was shrimpers and fisherman. The local fisherman discovered that that shrimp were in Southwest Florida waters because a lazy fisherman left his net in the water. She gave us an insight on what was going on back then and how far along the island has come. Mrs. Hughes let us taste some sea grape jelly that she had made herself on a cracker. It was the best jelly I have ever tasted in my life. It tasted like heaven on a cracker.
To begin with, the Calusa Indians were the first ones to live on this estuary island. Then the Spanish came after them, and tried to take over. That is when the fighting began. We get the name Matanzas from them. Matanzas means massacre in Spanish. The native people had a chief named Carlos. San Carlos Park was named after him. The famous explorer took a fatal arrow during the massacre that caused his death. In addition, we took a tour on this trail and the boardwalk was made out of milk cartons. I guess you could say that is recycling at its best. The mangrove is the most common plant on the island. Fort Myers Beach is a barrier island. It is the nursery for many fish. The water is full of nutrients. It is a nursery for wildlife. Mangroves are the life for all living things around them. It protects the land. (356)
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