Mound Key Archaeological State Park
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Mound Key Archaeological State Park is a
Florida State Park There are 175 state parks and 9 state trails in the U.S. state of Florida which encompass more than , providing recreational opportunities for both residents and tourists. Almost half of the state parks have an associated local 501(c)(3) non-pr ...
, located in Estero Bay, near the mouth of the
Estero River Estero is a village in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,939. During the 2010 census, Estero was an unincorporated community, or census-designated place, the population at that time was 22,612. Est ...
. One hundred and thirteen of the island's one hundred and twenty-five acres are managed by the park system. It is a complex of mounds and accumulated shell, fish bone, and pottery middens that rises more than 30 feet above the waters of the bay. Mound Key was an important site of 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 ...
tribe, and most experts believe it to be the site of their capital, Calos. The Mound Key Site on the island was added to the
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on August 12, 1970. The island is only accessible by boat from the
Koreshan State Historic Site The Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 4, 1976, under the designation of Koreshan Unity Settlemen ...
or Lovers Key State Park.


History

Mound Key was created over 2,000 years ago 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 ...
. The Calusa culture is
carbon-dated Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...
back to 1150 B.C. at Mound Key. The site likely began as a low-lying oyster bar on Estero Bay. The site would have been rich in marine food resources, and very appealing to the Calusa, who were actually
hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
s. As the human population grew,
food waste Food loss and waste is food that is not eaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption. Overall, about o ...
was heaped into the middens that form the island. The Calusa formed an extensive structure of mounds, water courts and canals whose features still exist today. Mounds were constructed by the collection and organization of "midden" which is a collaboration of shells, fish and animal bone, and artifacts such as pottery. Islands that were created by the Calusa, such as Mound Key are sometimes called "trash-heaps" as their composition is made from waste products of their culture. They are not however, just "heaps of Calusa garbage" simply tossed aside, but intricate compositions of substrate that were used for a display of power, religious monuments, and as burial memorials. It served for many years as the ceremonial center for their kingdom, which extended over numerous shell
midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
islands they made up and down the southwest coast of Florida. It is also believed by most researchers to have been the site of Calos, the capital of their kingdom. Their kingdom spanned from
Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...
southward to the
Ten Thousand Islands The Ten Thousand Islands are a chain of islands and mangrove islets off the coast of southwest Florida, between Cape Romano (at the south end of Marco Island) and the mouth of the Lostmans River. Some of the islands are high spots on a submerg ...
and eastward to
Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwat ...
. The arrival of the
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
was the beginning of the end for the Calusa. In 1566, the appointment of Spain's first
Governor of Florida A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...
happened on the island. This was closely followed by the establishment there of a fort and settlement, in an effort to colonize the area. A
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
mission was also founded there at the same time by
Juan Rogel The Diocese of Venice in Florida ( la, Dioecesis Venetiae in Florida) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Florida. It was founded on June 16, 1984 with the purpose of serving the southwestern portion ...
, a priest of that order. Called San Antón de Carlos, it was the first such mission in the Spanish
New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
. There was frequent conflict with the Calusa, though, and eventually the island was abandoned by the Spanish in 1569. The Spanish brought with them diseases to which the Calusa had no immunity. These diseases and warfare with the Spanish eventually ended the Calusa civilization around 1750. In subsequent years, the island was used and sometimes inhabited by pirates, fishermen (
Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...
,
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
and Spanish), and
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
pioneers, among others. Frank Johnson and his wife, Grandma Johnson, were given a homestead on Mound Key in 1891. This marked a period of European immigration to the former Calusa capital. Grandma Johnson remained at Mound Key and allowed several families — Luettich, Hawkins, Hanson and Fernandez — to build homes on the island. She taught them to fish, to farm, how to build houses that would stay cool in the summer and protect them against Florida's abusive sun and summer storms. By the turn of the 20th century, most all Mound Key settlers had moved up river to Estero, then a citrus and cow farming town. The Johnsons sold the island to the Koreshans, a utopian cult, in 1905. In 1894, the followers of a scientific/religious belief system known as
Koreshanity Koreshanity is the set of religious pseudoscientific beliefs put forth by Cyrus Teed (also known as Koresh). Followers of this belief were called "Koreshans", and most of them formed a utopian communal society called the Koreshan Unity. Main bel ...
arrived in the area. They built a community based on their
utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
ideas, growing over the next two decades. During this time, part of the property they acquired included most of the parcels on Mound Key. After the death of their leader,
Cyrus Teed Cyrus Reed Teed (October 18, 1839 – December 22, 1908) was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned pseudoscientific religious leader and self-proclaimed messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Teed took on the name Koresh and pr ...
, in 1908, their numbers declined. In 1961, the remaining Koreshans decided to give over ownership of the key, as well as other land in nearby Estero, to the state. It was used to form the park, which is administered by the
Koreshan State Historic Site The Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 4, 1976, under the designation of Koreshan Unity Settlemen ...
. Approximately nine acres still remain privately owned by the McGee family. The McGee family agreed to sell their remaining parcel to Lee County in 2019. In 2020, archeologists confirmed that Mound Key was the site of Fort San Antón de Carlos. Which was a Spanish fort as well as one of the first
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
sites in North America. The fort was abandoned in 1569, after the Spanish-Calusa alliance broke apart. The fort is also the oldest known North American example of
Tabby concrete Tabby is a type of concrete made by burning oyster shells to create lime, then mixing it with water, sand, ash and broken oyster shells. Tabby was used by early Spanish settlers in present-day Florida, then by British colonists primarily in coa ...
.


Recreational Activities

The park has such amenities as
boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether Motorboat, powerboats, Sailing, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sp ...
,
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
,
wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...
viewing and interpretive exhibits. Nature trails and information kiosks are being developed but no restroom facilities are available at the park. The only access to the island is by boat; there are no facilities. Interpretive displays can be found along a trail that spans the width of the island. Located in Estero Bay, the park is a few miles by boat from both the
Koreshan State Historic Site The Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 4, 1976, under the designation of Koreshan Unity Settlemen ...
and Lovers Key / Carl E. Johnson State Park.


See also

*
List of Jesuit sites This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association. Nearly all these sites have bee ...


References


Lee County listings
a
National Register of Historic Places

Lee County listings
a
Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs

History of Mound Key Archeological State Park
a
Florida State Parks

Estero Historical Society

Prehistoric Times - Early Human Life in Coastal Southwest Florida













External links


Mound Key Archaeological State Park
a
Florida State Parks

Mound Key Archaeological State Park
a
Wildernet


{{authority control Calusa Mounds in Florida Native American history of Florida Archaeological sites in Florida State parks of Florida National Register of Historic Places in Lee County, Florida Protected areas established in 1970 Parks in Lee County, Florida Florida Native American Heritage Trail Shell middens in Florida Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida 1970 establishments in Florida