Pine Island was home to the Calusa Nation; a nation now extinct. The Calusa was an organized society that, unlike other ancient societies, sustained mostly on fishing and not on agriculture. We were happy to find the Randell Research Centre’s Heritage Trail on the island and went for a history hike.
The heritage trail meanders through the property.
Many informative interpretation plaques dot the landscape and there are remnants of several shell and burial mounds.
The Calusa were once powerful people in South Florida. They created large shell mounds, engineered canals, and built large towns in the rich estuaries west and south of Fort Myers. All that remains of their culture today are several shell mound sites.
We visited mound sites before and were a bit disappointed at the lack of information in many of them. This site, however, was highly informative , and offered a glimpse into the life of the calusa, both through informative plaques, and physical evidence in the landscape.
The Calusa dug a canal across the island for ease of transportation
Archaeologists found remnants of the 2.5 mile canal and it is preserved on this property.
There are several small mounds on the property,
But the Brown complex is the largest and most impressive of them all. You first go up a hill
obviously made of shells
and then up some stairs
Where you reach an overlook that is constructed on top of the mound.
You do feel as if you are on top of the world
looking down at the path below
or across the neighbouring houses towards the bay.
The Calusa People are gone from the area,
but the shells remain as a silent testimony to the Calusa Nation and the people who once lived here.
what an incredible history of this beautiful place
It is quite incredible!
How interesting! It looks like a lovely place to visit.
It was ! Thanks for coming along!
Highly intelligent people. So sad that they no longer exist. Great post.
They were and it is!
It is good that the nation has been remembered. Interesting way of life. Thanks for sharing. Allan
You live by what the land has to offer! Thanks for coming along!
It is always humbling to think about the path and footsteps that came beforehand. Without your story and these guideposts, the path and lookout would otherwise seem unassuming. Will be curious to see what’s written of our present day life one day!
This is one of the first exercises that archaeology students have to think about; thousands of years from now what will remain of our culture…
What a fascinating job! 😊👍
An interesting history and as someone else said without the story boards it would look like an odd landscape. So is the car still not repaired??
Fingers and toes crossed we’ll be out of here on Tuesday!
Thanks for taking us on your great adventures!
Thanks for coming along!
That’s a beautiful tribute to the Calusa. I think, but not sure about this, that the Trail of Tears started in Florida
I looked it up and it started in Tennessee. The Calusa people were gone from Florida by then. Some may have assimilated with the Seminole, some went to Cuba. Interesting culture nonetheless.
Oh, okay. Very informative!
I don’t know how close the illustrations are to reality but they give a nice view of this nation.
I always cringe a little when I see these types of illustrations. As you say though, they do give a sense of what the culture was like and how the artifacts were used.
So interesting that there are plenty of shells lining the walk; the photos make it out to be that you’re more inland than you actually are! Despite the limited information about the Calusa Nation’s history, you ended up finding out for yourself how the people must’ve lived. Beautiful scenery, and educational experience!
I haven’t heard about the Calusa People before, so it was a very interesting experience slowly finding out about them in several places we’ve been to. This was the first place we came across some information about them and it was revealed to us plaque by plaque.
How long ago? And which of the conquering heroes were responsible for their disappearance. We have stories about our aboriginal people and it took, in some cases, less than two generations to totally destroy them.
It was mostly diseases and slavery brought on by the Spaniards during the 16th and 17th centuries. Sometimes in the 1700s, the Spanish shipped the remaining Calusa to Cuba, but most of them died. In Canada, we have the Biotec People from Newfoundland who also were driven to extinction.
This is an incredible blog posting as Southwest Florida is my home base as a full-time RV’er.
Your tour of the facilities are detailed and accurate as I toured the facility some ten years ago.
Reading this story reminded me of the researching links, I use to research from the perspectives of the conquered.
Here is a link; (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/192.html) to discover more. Enjoy journey.
Thank you for commenting and I appreciate the added link. The Spanish were ruthless in their encounters with the Natives. All in the name of god and gold.
Who doesn’t love a good history hike!? I’m such a fan of trails like this that provide storyboards along the way to learn more about the history of the area. The shell mounds look neat.
Exactly, the boards were informative, the view was great, and there were all kinds of cool birds around. Good hike!
Why am I not surprised you found this ancient place???? Thanks for taking me along, Muriel
Haha, I guess I’m a bit predictable 😊 Thanks for coming along!
I like such informative boards along the paths, we can enjoy the hikes while learning a thing or two😊
I do too! Your brain and your body are both getting a workout 🙂
Fascinating story of a lost people and their history. You have dug deep in the lore of the area.
As an anthropologist/archaeologist from Ontario it was very interesting for me to find information about peoples that I haven’t heard of before.
You had to love that place with your background! I found it very interesting and loved seeing the osprey while there.
I did love it! The osprey seem to dominate this island. We spent hours watching them 😊
Yeh. Apparently it is a good fishing place for them. That’s what one of the volunteers told me.