Everglades City The Gateway to the Ten Thousand Islands

Written by: Dave Kelly

On the southwest coast of Florida lies a small town with a big history and an expansive reach. Everglades City sits tucked away on Chokoloskee Bay, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, and unspoiled pristine waters.

But don’t let the location of this sleepy little city fool you—it is worth the drive to learn its story and discover its natural beauty.

George W. Storter Jr. opened a trading post on the Barron River in 1892, securing a post office in 1895 which he called Everglade. Over the years the islands of Chokoloskee Bay became more populated than the city itself, with the majority of the area’s settlers choosing to live, farm, fish and trade on the low-lying keys that fill the bay. Entire communities sprung up on these islands in the early 1900s—so much so that Everglade became the county seat of Collier County when it was formed in 1923.

Subtropical Wilderness Up Close

To explore this subtropical wilderness up close, we chose one of Florida’s charismatic old outposts—The Everglades Adventures Hotel Suites by Ivey House—as our home base. Centrally located on a quiet side street, our room was only minutes from the restaurants, attractions and shops that dot the city.

It allowed for peaceful serenity at night, yet exciting Everglades' adventures by day.

Our hotel is one of three Everglades City properties owned by a local family. Each location combines the look and feel of Old Florida, with beautiful, modern, and spacious rooms, many surrounding their tropically landscaped screenedin courtyard and pool. Our room included a delicious complimentary breakfast with each night’s stay, yet it also supplied a full-sized refrigerator and microwave. Free bike rentals allowed us to explore at our leisure as well.

‘RIVER WITH MUDDY BANKS’

The history of the area called to us, so we sought out Louis Daniels, owner of Everglades Old Time Charters. Louis is remarkably familiar with Everglades City history—his family of fishing guides and landowners has lived it for over 125 years. We boarded his boat and took a private tour out to Fakahatchee—“river with muddy banks” in the Seminole language—and its namesake island.

Louis’s great grandfather, John Phineas Daniels, settled on Fakahatchee Island with about 150 people, where they built homes, churches and a schoolhouse. Children from the other islands in the area came to school daily by boat as their parents dropped them at the shoreline every morning and picked them up in the evenings.

In the 1970s, the U.S. government, worried about a burgeoning drug trade, began buying island land from the residents. Louis’s family held out for as long as possible, with the Daniels’ house on Fakahatchee being the last property that the government purchased in the late ‘80s. They then proceeded to burn down all homes and structures on every island, erasing a century of history. All that is left now on Fakahatchee are the stone and shell cisterns that once collected fresh rainwater for the village.

Trip Sights Are Breathtaking

Fresh off our history lesson, we headed out to a more traditional type of entertainment—Captain Jack’s Airboat Tours. We chose the Mangrove Airboat Tour from their extensive attractions’ menu, and we were paired with Captain Tristan. Unlike many airboat tours, where large boats handle up to 25 riders, Captain Jack’s boats are more intimate, with less than a dozen folks on each ride. In addition, Tristan hooked us up with special two-way headphone sets so we could hear his information about the area over the loud airboat engine and communicate back to him comfortably.