Deep Lake is an uninhabited

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Collier County, Florida, United States. It is located between

Immokalee Immokalee ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Collier County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,557 at the 2020 census, up from 24,154 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Naples–Marco Island metropol ...

and Everglades City along State Route 29. The area is named after Deep Lake, a deep naturally occurring sinkhole, which is the deepest lake south of

Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee ( ) is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the List of largest lakes of the United States by area, eighth-largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest ...

History

Around 1901, Walter Langford and John Roach acquired a tract of land in the Deep Lake area, known as "Deep Lake Hammock," with plans to develop the land into a grapefruit growing and packing enterprise. After years of laborious work, 200 acres of the

hammock A hammock, from Spanish , borrowed from Taíno language, Taíno and Arawak language, Arawak , is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two or more points, used for swing (seat), swinging, sleeping, or Human relaxation, res ...

had been cleared and seeds were planted.

Deep Lake Railroad

To facilitate the process of transporting the grapefruit to market, the partners needed to build their own rail system. The Deep Lake Railroad was built in 1913 and spanned from Everglades City to Deep Lake.

Barron Collier Barron Gift Collier (March 23, 1873 – March 13, 1939) was an American advertising entrepreneur who became the largest private landowner and developer in Florida, as well as the owner of a chain of hotels, bus lines, several banks, newspapers, ...

, friend of Roach and namesake of Collier County, purchased the grapefruit grove and railroad in the early years of the 1920s. He would go on to buy more land in the surrounding area to grow the business, which would later be called "Deep Lake Grove & Cannery." In 1928, the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967, it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast ...

acquired the Deep Lake Railroad. After rebuilding the track to meet Coast Line specifications, the line was incorporated into the

Haines City Branch The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Haines City Branch was a railroad line running from their main line in Haines City, Florida south through southern Central Florida. Track would stretch as far south as Everglades City, Florida, Everglades City u ...

, which would extend up through Immokalee and into

Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...

. The railroad was removed in 1957.

Geography

Deep Lake is located within the

Big Cypress National Preserve Big Cypress National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in South Florida, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Miami on the Atlantic coastal plain. The Big Cypress, along with Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, beca ...

. This particular section is higher in elevation and therefore drier than other areas of the preserve.

References

{{Collier County, Florida Ghost towns in Florida Unincorporated communities in Collier County, Florida Unincorporated communities in Florida