Cape Coral and Southwest Florida Feature Stories

“In fourteen-hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…”

That’s how my elementary-school teachers described Christopher Columbus “discovering” America. I’ve always wondered how someone could discover a place when there were already people living there…there’s also the small problem of the fact that Columbus never even set foot on the continent of North America at anytime during his four seaward journeys. Then we have Juan Ponce de Leon who “discovered” Florida in 1513, supposedly while searching for the Fountain of Youth.

Some guys get all the credit. Some guys have all the luck.

In 1521 Ponce de León organized a colonizing expedition on two ships. It consisted of some 200 men, including priests, farmers and artisans, 50 horses and other domestic animals, and farming implements. The expedition landed on the southwest coast of Florida, in the vicinity of Caloosahatchee River. The colonists were soon attacked by Calusa Indians and Ponce de León was injured by a poisoned arrow to the shoulder. After this attack, he and colonists sailed to Havana, Cuba, where he soon died of the wound.

This is just a piece of the major history that occurred right in our backyard. The guy who discovered Florida was apparently killed by the people who were already there.

Read more: Pineland - The Calusa Heritage Trail

This is the first installment in our Cape Coral Utility Expansion series.  Part Two is here.  Part Three is here.

The occupation began months ago.

It started quietly. Letters in the mail with ungodly cost estimates. Signs welcoming travelers to the Southwest Four Utility Expansion Area. Mountains of dirt on Skyline Boulevard. Closed Lanes on Chiquita Boulevard. Big piles of stacked plastic pipes in vacant lots a mile away.

Read more: Cape Coral UEP - Live From the Crossroads - Cape Coral UEP Part 1

About three quarters of the way down Rose Garden Road in Cape Coral there’s a small, usually empty, parking lot off to the left with a sign reading, “Glover Bight Trail”. The “trail” is actually one of Cape Coral’s newer boardwalks. At 1500 feet, it meanders through saltwater wetlands and exposed mudflats towards an observation deck with views of Glover Bight. The bight, itself, is a small bay and anchorage at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. It’s also one of the few remaining ecosystems supporting smalltooth sawfish, a dwindling species listed as endangered since 2003.

Read more: Glover Bight - Under the Boardwalk

Rotary Park lies at the southern end of Pelican Boulevard in Cape Coral. It’s a quiet area, somewhat off the main traffic routes, situated on 197 environmentally protected acres.

The few internet sites with information about Rotary Park give vague token references to brackish water ponds, mangrove wetlands and uplands complete with waterfowl and fish. It sounded like just what I was looking for…a quaint and manicured setting for a relaxing, mid-morning, Cape Coral walk.

Read more: Rotary Park...Backyard Wilderness