Otter Mound is located at 1831 Addison Court,
Marco Island
Marco may refer to:
People
* Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco
* Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor
* Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin
* Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish ...
. The 2.45 acre preserve is located in southwestern
Collier County
Collier County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from ...
in a residential area of Marco Island, known locally as the Indian Hills section. The preserve is maintained by Collier County.
The preserve is named for a previous resident, Ernest Otter a one-time owner who had occupied the property until 1997. Otter is credited for the unique
whelk
Whelk (also known as scungilli) is a common name applied to various kinds of sea snail. Although a number of whelks are relatively large and are in the family Buccinidae (the true whelks), the word ''whelk'' is also applied to some other marin ...
shell
terraces that define the preserve’s signature man-made feature. The initial preserve was established with a 1.77 acre purchase in 2004 followed by an additional acquisition of .68 acres in 2007.
History
Otter Mound and the property surrounding it was a home site for early settlers in the
Caxambas Village who worked in the Marco Island clamming industry.
The "Mound" on which Otter Mound Preserve sits was constructed by the
Calusa
The Calusa ( ) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years.
At the time of ...
native inhabitants from
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...
,
southern surf clam,
lightning whelk
''Sinistrofulgur perversum'', the lightning whelk, is an edible species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks. This species has a left-handed or sinistral shell. It ...
, and other shellfish species and dates between 700 AD – 1200 AD.
Geography
Otter Mound is a man-made
tropical hardwood hammock formed by the
Shell mound created by the Calusa natives, this raised area produced an environment that resulted in a tropical hardwood hammock community. This plant community also occurs naturally in South Florida and is a common site in the
Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...
. Hammocks primarily occur on the highest elevations (e.g., shell mounds) where flooding rarely occurs and are, therefore, prime areas for human habitation.
Wildlife
This preserve is representative of a tropical hardwood hammock, Fifty-seven species of birds and one hundred and twenty-seven plant species have been recorded at Otter Mound Preserve. Other wildlife observed includes opossum, armadillo, raccoon, grey squirrel and even the occasional bobcat. (Mosquitoes can be quite fierce once one enters the cooling canopy of the trees.)
Whelk shell terracing
Otter Mound's signature man-made feature is the many terraced garden plots created with thousands of whelk shells. Ernest Otter created these terraced gardens in the mid 1950s.
Public facilities
There is a small parking area and a bike rack located at the entrance along Addison Court. A nature surface trail with benches and interpretive signs loops through the preserve allowing views of the historic whelk terracing along its path. The path is not handicap accessible and there are no comfort facilities available.
References
marcoislandliving.comcolliergov.net* Paper Otter Mound brochure
Collier County, Florida