(soft delicate music) - [Announcer] The Untold Stories of Fort Myers Beach is made possible in part by the town of Fort Myers Beach, and the Lee County Board of County Commissioners.

- [Narrator] Memories, recollections, facts and figures make up the life stories we pass down from generation to generation.

These aural and written histories about the people and places of our past shape how we live today.

Together let's relive some of the untold stories of Fort Myers Beach.

We'll meet the special people and places that make up this former fishing village and we'll hear about the community's efforts to preserve their island history and sustain its unique character in the face of development.

Long before it was known as Fort Myers Beach thousands of years ago, Estero Island was home to Kaluso Indians.

- Native American people first moved into Florida about 10,000 years ago.

And during that time, we were at the end of the Pleistocene, which was a period of glaciation.

And so much of the world's ocean water was tied up in these enormous ice sheets that actually the ocean levels were considerably lower.

About 180 feet lower than they are today, which means the Gulf of Mexico would've been about 100 miles further west than it is today.

As these huge glaciers melted, sea level began to rise quite rapidly.

And modern sea level, where the water is today, was reached about 4,000 B.C.

or so.

And a couple thousand years after that, Estero Island formed as a barer island.

The earliest known evidence for occupation on Estero Island as an island would be this Indian mound here at the Mound House.

And that first started accumulating around 100 B.C.

And they had completed constructing the mound around 700 A.D.

Even though they abandoned this site at 700 A.D., they continued coming back to the site, perhaps a family hunting ground.

And they were repairing their nets.

They were opening shellfish, extracting meat, cleaning fish, and these activities took place around the periphery of the mound, probably into the 15th century.

It's in the 16th century when the Europeans first arrived.

- [Narrator] The Spanish arrived in the 16th century and soon after the Kaluso abandoned their villages.

Their life ways and values were incompatible with those of the Spanish explorers.

- Paul Slione arrives here in Southwest Florida in San Carlos Bay on June four in 1513.

He's actually attacked by a number of Indians in 20 canoes.

The Spanish actually killed quite a few of these Indians.

They capture a few of their canoes.

We don't hear much about the Kaluso for another 50 years, until Menendez establishes a mission on Mount Key.

And after three years, the Kaluso abandon their village because they cannot live together with the Spanish.

80 to 90% of the Native Americans in North America died because of European diseases for which they did not have any natural immunities.

- [Narrator] The 1880s saw the next significant period of settlement on the island with the arrival of homesteaders.

- The first homestead grant on Estero Island was here at the Mound House.

The Gilberts moved here in 1889.

The Gilberts don't stay very long.

They actually sell the property to the Cases.

They build a little tutor house here in 1906.

And add onto that again in 1909.

One of the things I think is interesting about the early homestead period, or this early pioneer period in Florida, is life actually continues very much in the Kaluso realm.

A lot of people are living on top of Kaluso mounds because they provide high ground and safety from storms.

- [Narrator] In the 1880s, the Koreshans began establishing their colony.

- Into the 1900s, the people who came and lived at the south end of this island and bought from the homesteaders, and were homesteaders themselves were the Koreshans.

They were here under the guidance of a man named Doctor Cyrus Teed who called himself Koresh because the name Cyrus in the Bible is translated into Koresh.

He came from Chicago in 1894.

And they built a sawmill down at the south end of the island and began building.

And they had three houses.

Two story houses, down at the south end.

They had a post office.

In 1894, they opened the first post office on Fort Myers Beach.

But they called the address Estero.

And so the Kareshans, by 1902, they had 200 members moving down here.

Very, very big and very successful.

The Kareshans believed in what he called a cellular cosmogony.

He decided that they lived on the inside of the earth, like on the inside of an egg, and what you saw in the sky was the inside of the egg.

- [Narrator] Significant change began when the first bridge connecting the island to the mainland was built in 1921.

- [Dr. Jean] Until the 1920s, there wasn't much movement on the island because we had no bridge.

What happened in 1921 was that the bridge was built, the first bridge to Fort Myers Beach.

This was a wooden bridge, it was a drawbridge and you had to pay 52 cents to go over, plus four cents war tax, even though we were not at war.

May 21, 1921.

This was when the bridge officially opened and everybody wanted to come to the beach.

Everybody.

So we had the Model T's, Model A's and everything else.

And they drove on the beachfront.

And the beachfront was so wide, they could drive five cars abreast.

- [Narrator] The bridge brought more people to the island, but reoccurring hurricanes made some question the move.

- When the hurricane came in October of 1921 it absolutely devastated the things that were on the island.

There were two casinos, the Seminole Sand Casino and the Gulf Shore Inn which still exists.

But everything was devastated.

And so the people who owned it had to take another look at Fort Myers Beach and say do we want to rebuild?

It took them till 1923 to really rebuild everything.

And then in 1926, we had another hurricane that came through here.

And it was so bad that it actually created a second island, San Carlos Island.

It opened up a new pass, cut off the mainland into an island, and they call it Hurricane Pass for obvious reasons.

- [Narrator] Fort Myers Beach in the 30s lacked amenities and housing was primitive.

Islanders did most of their living outdoors, so houses were small.

- I was always told there were only about five houses when I was born, but there may have been a few more but there were very few.

People lived in house boats at that time because there were not enough houses, and it was primitive land.

- And there weren't too many buildings there.

There was not post office, no gas station.

No anything for quite a while.

No bank.

- Back on the back bay it was hideous.

I've seen times when you could look at the window screen and you couldn't tell whether it was a new moon or full, it'd be that black with mosquitoes.

But we didn't know any better and we didn't have air conditioning.

We thought we were in paradise.

- But the mentality in the 20s and 30s was that we lived out of a house instead of in a house.

We used the house to have our meals, to sleep, but the rest of the time we were outside.

- [Narrator] The beach hotel and its pier were the center of island life in the 30s.

- There was the beach hotel, which my grandparents bought in 1936.

And at that time, it was just the hotel building with 10 small bedrooms upstairs.

It had been built about 1912 by Doctor and Mrs. Wheegler.

- They had a lot of guests all the time and bridge parties.

And it was a great place.

And they had a pier going out right in front of it that went out over the water.

- I spent an awful lot of time on the pier.

And there that was the only pier then, it's opposite the hotel.

And fishing was good and you could just while away hours there fishing or just watching fishing.

Lot of action.

- We'd go down there on the pier to watch the sunset a lot of times, just to have something to do in the evenings, because early on we didn't have a theater or we didn't have any drug stores or any place like that to go to.

- [Narrator] The island's reputation grew, attracting visits from the rich and famous.

- Famous people discovered Fort Myers Beach in the 30s and in the 40s.

And we had, interestingly enough, it seemed to me we had people from California who were in films find Fort Myers Beach, love it, come back, come back, come back.

Myrna Loy was a friend of my mothers and they'd just laugh and laugh and laugh.

And had a wonderful time and she would come and stay for weeks at a time.

- The Fort Myers Beach Hotel was an icon, a place of comfort.

The people who came there were people who repeated year after year, including the famous people who came there.

Lindbergh was a frequent visitor.

He was known well to the Newtons, and his wife Anne.

And we would hang on the fence out front to get a glimpse of these people.

And we just felt like we were in the center of American history at that time.

- Mrs. Edison was a great pal of my grandmothers.

They used to play golf together in Fort Myers.

And then she was my godmother.

And she would bring me a little present and stay for the afternoon.

- [Narrator] Fort Myers Beach residents paid for their children to be taught in a small rented cottage before the community raised money to build a two room schoolhouse.

- They had to pay the rent for the cottage, which was called the May Who Page cottage.

Money wasn't plentiful in those days and they chipped in and the mother's paid for the school.

And the county or state provided us with a teacher, which was just out of college and she was paid $75 a month to be the janitor and the teacher for three grades.

- I went to the school, first grade at Fort Myers Beach.

And it was a one room schoolhouse that three grades were in.

And I think there was only 16 or 17 of us children in the whole class.

But we got to know all the kids that way and it was a community.

- [Henry] When they built the new school in 1938, there was two classes.

- The school had about 30 students.

To me the always interesting thing was that we had one room for the first, second and third grade.

Other room fourth, fifth and sixth.

Raising money to pay off that school was a huge part of my school life.

- Louis Alexander was the school teacher back then.

One morning, she went by.

She had a little black Model A Ford Coupe.

She went by and she saw me waiting for the bus, so she went onto the school and I never got there on the school bus.

She came back and got me.

I was just about ready to get in my boat and go fishing.

And she got me and brought me back and put me in school (laughs).

- [Narrator] The Chapel by the Sea was the only church on Estero Island in the 30s and early 40s.

Although a Presbyterian Church, it was attended by residents of all denominations.

- There was only one church.

It was run and pastored by a Presbyterian minister.

And he would have Sunday school and church, and also in the summer time they would have a school.

You didn't have to be Presbyterian.

Anybody could come and they did.

- It was very much a community church.

Chapel by the Sea seated people in folding wooden chairs.

There were two rooms on the back with a kitchen in the middle, where we could have Sunday school.

And we could have classes.

- [Narrator] Fishing was a major attraction of Fort Myers Beach.

Life was hard for commercial fisherman, but recreational anglers were elated to find mackerel, kingfish, mullet, red fish and the sports fisherman's prize, snook.

- I can remember when there was not anything to do on the island except something with the fish business or something like that.

So I guess it just came natural for people like me to be there, be in it.

- The fisher people in the community were really hard workers.

They were up early in the morning.

They worked late at night.

They absolutely worked year round.

- The red dodge killed more fish than fisherman would ever dream about catching.

- Mackerel and kingfish used to run here in, well the kings ran in January and February.

And I mean within three miles of the island you could go out and with a hand line and a spoon, you could just fill as many garbage cans as you wanted to until you got tired of catching them.

And the same way with mackerel in June and July.

And at the end of the pier, which was then in the middle of the island.

My mother loved to fish on the pier.

You could catch trout and mackerel all day long, all summer.

- Everyone talked about redfish and how great they were to eat.

Probably the best eating fish we had.

But the big talk was the snook.

Snook was absolute king.

- [Narrator] During World War II Fort Myers Beach was transformed and soldiers conducted training exercises on the beach.

- During the war, the population increased dramatically because of the two air bases we had in Fort Myers.

It was quite fascinating because they did the maneuvers out over the gulf, not too far off.

- And we had blackout curtains and we had to have our headlights painted half black.

And everything had to, there was not a chink of light to be seen on this island after dark.

- The truth of the matter is there were German subs out in the gulf.

They were so smart.

In the daytime, they'd surface and put up a sail.

We thought it was a sailboat.

We didn't think, you know, you couldn't see that far out.

It just looked like a sailboat.

We had evidence that they came to our grocery store shopping.

And one of them was washed up on the beach with a ticket to the arcade theater in his pocket.

So evidently they came to Fort Myers for recreation.

- Soldiers that came through here saw this paradise and immediately, as I say, 47 you could really feel it.

But beginning, as soon as the war was over in 45, we began to get returnees who had passed through here.

- [Narrator] In the 50s, pink gold was discovered in the waters around the island, shrimping was a lucrative livelihood and Fort Myers Beach became a major shrimping port.

- Got married and came back to Fort Myers Beach and I bought a charter boat and started running charter boats.

Until the shrimping came in, and I figured I'd make more money shrimping.

And then I shrimped for about 18, 20 years.

Shrimping you gone for two or three weeks.

I spent 43 days on one trip.

You use those big trawl nets on the shrimp boats, you know.

We started out with one great big net.

Then they went to two big nets out on each side.

And now they gone four nets, two on each side.

- In those days, most of the shrimp went to the packers in Tampa.

We didn't have too much delivered right around Fort Myers Beach.

Later, the freezer plant, San Carlos Island Freezer Plant was started.

And my husband was one of the partners.

And after he passed away, I became a partner.

For years, the shrimping business was more lucrative than it is today, but it's still a good living.

But my sons had boats afterwards but they've all sold them now.

And they're getting to the age that they didn't want to be out on the water all the time.

- [Narrator] Tourists discovered Fort Myers Beach in the 50s.

And the resorts and hotels added rooms to accommodate them.

- My dad came home one night and he said, "Well, I thought you all might like "to know I just went and bought a piece of property."

so he bought the piece of the family's first piece of property in 1951 at the north end of the island.

And then we gradually started adding more and more, probably just what we had done here.

And by 1958, we had a cottage colony.

- We did indeed name it the Pink Shell, because we had all these little cottages and they were all pink when we first started our business down here.

We didn't have a bank on the island.

We barely had a grocery store on the island.

And there was no place on the island where if you had to buy sheets or towels or any of the many things that you have to have for a resort.

- [Narrator] The small beach cottages could no longer accommodate tourists flocking to the beach.

The era of the condominium was about to begin.

- Because in the late 70s, the first condominium was built.

At a private year, it's still here.

Down at the south end.

And it only had a couple stories, but the second condo that was built was built by someone who'd been here since the 1940s.

Leonard Santini.

And when he built a condo, you know, it was like seven or eight stories high.

You have to picture Leonardo arms.

It looked like a dinosaur on a desert, because there was nothing down there but sand.

And here's this enormous building.

You know what though?

People would drive down there and just watch it.

- We sold the Pink Shell Resort in 1999, and at that time it was 179 units.

Mostly cottages, cottages and apartments.

It had grown to 12 acres.

And then as the new owners came in, they had different ideas than our little pink cottages.

So they started modernizing it and removing some of the cottages.

I love the cottages.

And the day that Pink Shell became high rise instead of the lower cottages, it was a mixed day.

You feel proud that it turns into something beautiful and magnificent the way it is, but it's bittersweet because you loved the cottages too and you liked what it was.

- [Narrator] 1995 marked a new beginning for Fort Myers Beach when residents voted to incorporate as a city, controlling their own development and preserving what was left of their history.

- The people in the town got scared that we were going to end up looking like Miami Beach.

And so they had another attempt at incorporation.

It had five shots at it since 1949.

They tried it.

And they turned it down every time.

- But in 1995, a movement was started to incorporate the island.

And on July 25th of 1995, the island became incorporated.

Officially on December 31st of 1995.

So now we have our own town government, our own town hall.

Our own town ordinances, et cetera.

- For the residents on the island, I believe that they see that the majority of them as a positive thing, because as the beach has grown over the years, and more issues have come to pass, they feel that they have much more of a say in the future of the island and the future of their homes.

- We have our struggles sometimes with different factions on the island, but for the most part, the people who are now glad that the island is incorporated see us as trying to do pretty much the same thing.

We're trying to do preservation.

We started our historic society in 1995 and it's too bad we didn't know to start it sooner.

- [Narrator] The preservation of the Mound House was one historical and environmental success.

- The town of Fort Myers Beach was incorporated in 1995, and around that time, Mrs. Long had just passed away.

The family, the Longs had no direct children, but they had a number of nieces and nephews that they left the property to.

And they were potentially gonna sell the land to a developer.

And so the town worked very quickly and very hard at attaining grant funds for this piece of property.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Mound House property is its time depth.

On this property, we have represented every major period of Florida history and prehistory, starting 2,000 years ago and leading up to the present.

That allows us to do educational programing on a scale that few other properties can offer.

- [Narrator] Another success is the growth of the arts.

The Fort Myers Beach Art Association was founded 50 years ago by a group of artists who wanted to paint together.

Now arts on the beach encompass music, theater and film.

- The Art Association has lasted over 50 years.

And everybody in that group all those years has had a wonderful time with the association.

It was a group of people who wanted to paint together.

And as they get a few more people, then it began to grow.

Eventually they were able to get a location, and the following year, they had enough money that they could fill it and make that their first building, which is still in use.

And it was a wonderful thing to have, a building where you could come and you could paint.

- As far as the artist community is concerned, we have a fabulous art association here.

You see them everywhere you go, in the parks.

You see them, I recall one time when the beach theater was just built, I saw an artist in the parking lot painting the building.

They've painted our fire hydrants in the time square area.

So cute and it's a great group of people.

- About four years ago, when we built our own theater, we went into the Orpheus Cafe, a Greek restaurant and built the stages and brought in cans, our own cans and clamp lights to light the stage.

And we went back into the kitchen as our dressing room, and we started doing off Broadway productions.

Now since that time, we have built another theater in the homes house.

You have the film festival going on, you've got incredible musicians that live here.

Actually work class musicians who are Grammy award winners.

I think this is an ideal location for an artists colony.

- I think coming down to the island has given me an opportunity to kind of reinvent myself.

When I got down here, nobody knew who I was.

Nobody knew anything about me.

No one had heard me sing.

No one knew that I was a songwriter.

Nothing.

The community, I feel, has for the most part been extremely receptive to the idea of real, healthy, vibrant, active art community, because I think it's been needed.

It's been missing.

There's so many people here from so many walks of life.

♪ I think I found a place ♪ Where I wanna stay ♪ And as the setting sun spills its colors ♪ ♪ Across the outer skies ♪ I thank all the gods ♪ For another day in paradise With modernization, comes change.

And that's what we're experiencing right now.

After Hurricane Ian on Fort Myers Beach and on Sanibel and Pine Island and that's what WGCU is all about, is telling these stories.

And that's why we're watching this marathon of all of these untold stories right now.

Hi there.

I'm Pam James.

I'm the executive producer of Content with WGCU.

And I'm so proud to be a part of an expanding unit where we are bringing more and more content to you, whether it's coming from the radio or coming from our brand new documentary unit.

We're going to meet them later on today.

But really, what right now, what I'm asking to do is take care of a little business between you and me.

Would you be so kind as to give a gift of support right now to public media?

That's why we're here.

We believe in the power of public media, and we believe that you believe in that, too.

So we're asking you to call the number on your screen, go online to WGCU.org, or use that QR code right there and make a gift of any dollar amount.

It's safe and secure and it's super easy to do.

So it takes a couple of minutes to do so.

You know one thing, if you've never given to WGCU before, what I'd like for you to consider is giving on $5 a month as a WGCU sustainer, what a WGCU sustainer is as someone who gives in perpetuity monthly, you're breaking up a dollar amount that you would give annually into smaller monthly chunks.

So $5 a month equals $60 annually.

And what that also gets you is this great member benefit called PBS Passport, and it gives you hours and hours of PBS programing that you really, truly do love and want to watch anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Now, if that doesn't work for you, we'd love to ask you for your support for $10 a month as a WGCU Sustainer, and we'll get you this nice PBS T-shirt.

It is a Heather Blue.

It's got the PBS P head on it that you can really just remember back when the P head, which is what we call it colloquially here, was big in the 1970s.

If that doesn't work for you, then we'd like for you to consider $20 a month as a WGCU sustainer and get this 15 ounce coffee mug.

And we'll also send you the DVDs of the programs that you're watching right now.

The most important part is that you're giving in support of the content and the storytelling that you count on with WGCU every single day.

Now, while you're going to the phone or going to the website and making that gift of support, I'd like to introduce the fact that WGCU has always been working on the content that you count on in this past year we've done an anniversary story called After Ian that kind of told the stories of people who are on the ground or literally above the ground, as are dealing with the storm.

We've had Face of Immokalee for social change, this art for social change from Tara Callaghan and we also have Dream School, the journey to higher education with Sandra, Viktorova and edited by some of our talented people right here at WGCU.

So that's what we're doing and that's what we believe in.

And that's why I'm so thrilled to introduce to you our new documentary unit.

They are Janine Zeitlin, Tom James and Susan Gard, and they're brought in specifically to retell the stories of the resilience and the rebuilding of these three barrier islands that we're watching this evening.

So we're going to go to Sandra Viktorova who sat down with the group and see what they have to say.

So in the meantime, go to the number on your screen, go online to WGCU.org, make a gift to support and be sure to keep listening and watching WGCU.

Now to Sandra Viktorova.

Thanks, Pam.

WGCU is so excited to have such a talented team of journalists join us to produce wonderful documentaries, and today we're excited to actually meet them and talk about their work.

So welcome guys.

Thank you so much.

I actually want you to introduce yourselves so we can learn a little bit about you and then we're going to talk about the great work you're doing.

So, Tom, go ahead, start.

My name is Tom James.

I'm the videographer editor for the documentary Unit.

I've been working with WGCU for about ten years since we moved down to southwest Florida.

And, you know, producing documentaries like Preserving Our Waters.

And the most recent one was the Lure of Lovers Key.

And I'm just I'm very curious about the history of Southwest Florida.

It's new to me.

I'm ten years, so I love diving into that and being with WGCU.

We really have you know, they give us that opportunity to dive deep and to look at these amazing characters down here.

Janine, a little bit about you.

My name is Janine Zeitlin, and I'm the senior producer and writer for the documentary Unit, and I have been a journalist and a resident in Southwest Florida for more than 20 years, which at this point, unfortunately, I can count how many hurricanes I have covered on two hands.

And so I was an investigator of an enterprise reporter for local outlets.

And I've also written for USA Today, The Washington Post and the New York Times.

And I come to this unit with a passion for Southwest Florida and its stories.

And I have a commitment to fact based storytelling, which I'm really excited to bring to this unit.

Wonderful.

And Susan, I'm Susan Gard.

I'm the associate producer for the documentary Unit.

I'm new to Southwest Florida, but what I'm bringing is fresher eyes to these stories because I haven't heard as many of them.

I'm in charge in the unit of helping with all of our social media.

So we're posting a lot of stories and just updates to social media, which is really exciting.

And then also the logistical and coordination type stuff I'm kind of handling, which is really amazing and I'm just really excited to be down here and able to be in the community and telling these stories.

So Susan, your team has ambitious goals for documentaries, plus additional content.

Give us the big picture.

So we're actually working on four documentaries right now.

We're starting with Sanibel.

We're moving to Fort Myers Beach and then Pine Island and then finishing with a 60 minute Hurricane Ian documentary.

And it is ambitious, but it's really important that we get out there and tell these stories because while there have been previous programs on these things, we are telling newer chapters and updating the history and that's really important to us.

So, Tom, I know you've worked really hard from day one to capture the reality of Fort Myers Beach, the storm.

So first, you know how are folks doing in Fort Myers Beach?

How are things coming along?

And then how do you hope to tell this story differently than traditional news media?

Well, you know, the residents of Fort Myers Beach are very resilient.

How how we're going to be different is we're here, we're in the community, the national units, they their stories over.

They think it's done for us.

It's just starting.

We're going to be here.

We've seen you know, we've been out in the community.

We've seen buildings coming down like Chapel by the sea.

They just tore that down.

But we've also seen buildings going up with Margaritaville.

We were able to go out and catch the the grand opening of that.

And, you know, the celebrations that they've been having, like the remembrance celebration and the the Times Square clock dedication.

And so we're here in the community.

We're we're out there with them.

We've seen the devastation, but we're also watching them rebuild.

So many stories to cover.

Janine, how do you decide what to cover?

What do you hope will be in this documentary?

Well, we're still in the research phase, but we've spent a lot of time out there on Fort Myers Beach before the storm and after the storm.

But I really want to focus on the unique heritage of Fort Myers Beach.

Fort Myers Beach is known for its colorful characters throughout history.

And to this day, you know, some great and interesting people tend to gravitate towards the beach.

And we really want their stories to be the focus of our our documentary.

We don't want the storm to overpower their stories.

We're going to hear a lot more.

First, I want to remind everybody that you can support the documentary unit by sending us emails and with photos and all documents and story ideas, You can send those to documentary at WGCU.org Be sure to also like us and follow us on WGCU, Public Media, on Facebook and Instagram.

And of course, support us by cal We are so excited to see what the documentary unit will be producing for us over the next several years.

And it really is important to have another partner involved in this development of the content that you watch every single day.

And that's you.

That's why we come to you periodically to ask for your support for public media.

Right now here in Southwest Florida, the number is on your screen or you can go online to WGCU.org or use a QR code and make a safe and secure donation.

And we do have suggested levels that I'd like you to consider.

Consider $5 a month as a WGCU sustainer and you'll get the great member benefit of PBS's Passport.

Thousands of hours of PBS programs and local programs at your fingertips.

Consider also $10 a month as a WGCU sustainer, and we'll send you this Heather Blue multi unisex T-shirt that's got the old PBS logo on it.

How fabulous to have something like that that reminisces from the 1970s.

Or consider at $20 a month as a WGCU sustainer or $240 annually, you'll get the 15 ounce coffee mug that's microwavable.

Plus the three DVDs of the programs that you're watching tonight.

You've got PBS, you've got the Pine Island, you've got Sanibel, and you've got Fort Myers Beach.

What a great way to hold onto this heritage, but then also be a part of what's happening for the future.

Give a call on the on the number on the screen or go online to WGCU.org and make a gift to support right now.

And thank you so much.

Sanibel Island, Florida is a beautiful spot on the Gulf of Mexico as locals, we thought we knew how Sanibel was pronounced and tell.

Next up, we have City of Sanibel, Mayor Richard Johnson.

I want to thank you for supporting the city of Sanibel.

Wait, did he just say “Sana bull ”?

And I'd say that.

How would you say that?

Sanibel.

Sanibel.

Sanibel.

Well, you pronounce it Sanibel.

I pronounce it Sanibel.

It's something that I picked up from my father in law and his brother.

My father in law.

Frances Bailey was one of our original incorporators.

He taught me it is not Santa.

Ding dong.

It's Sanibel.

Other islanders question the “Sana Bull ” pronunciation.

We say Sanibel because it's what people recognize.

We like to say the name that people relate to and stirs emotion, and Sanibel tends to do that.

For more local history and untold stories, listen and watch.

WGCU Public media.

What a fun story.

Who knew?

I know it's we always thought it was Sanibel, but in producing this documentary, we had so many people saying it differently.

And through more research that we did, we found out that it was actually written into its incorporation.

Sanibel.

So it was it's nuggets like this that just get lost.

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And thank you so much, southwest Florida.

We're going to go back to our marathon now and we're going to actually go to Pine Island, where we're going to see how the Calusa Indians really did make an effect on the entire region and how important they were in building the resilience and the independence of the Pine Islanders who live there today.

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Now on to Pine Island.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] This episode of Untold Stories is underwritten by Lee County Government County Commission.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] A thousand years ago, Pine Island was inhabited by an ancient people who lived off the sea, proudly controlled their own destiny, resisted unwanted change, and jealously defended their turf with ferocious tenacity against foreign intruders.

The Calusa have been gone for almost 400 years, but their attitude lives on among 21st Century Pine Islanders.

- I think Pine Islanders have inherited that Calusa independence, that fierce determination.

For every modern day person on Pine Island, there's some 20 Calusa lived and died here, so it's really their island to this day, and they're still here.

We're walkin' on 'em actually.

- Pine Island's always been somewhat fiercely independent since the early 1900s when people first started living out here.

I think you had to be really tough.

- [Narrator] Any history of Southwest Florida has to begin with the Calusa, for this powerful warrior tribe was the dominant force in the region for centuries.

But archeologists don't agree upon exactly when human beings first came to Florida, or even where they came from.

- In South Florida, and especially in the region that today we call the Domain of the Calusa, we think that people really weren't in this area 'til about 6,000 years ago, and the reason for that would probably be the environment.

It probably wasn't very conducive to life down here, because we actually don't even think that the modern estuary system formed 'til about 6,000 years ago.. - [Narrator] But as the coastal estuary was formed, with its network of interlocking bays, inlets, rivers, channels, and hundreds of islands, it provided a rich natural habitat for the water-based Calusa culture that later evolved.

- Pine Island was a very important location to the Calusa Indians since at least as far back as 2,000 years, and perhaps even further.

Because it's really always been a rich estuary in terms of fishing resources, shellfishing, all of these resources were key to the Calusa since really the majority of their diet was from the water.

They rarely ate animals, they did not farm, and the few gardens that we think that the Calusa had were small home gardens.

- [Narrator] The Calusa developed a complex patriarchal society where men held the power, ruled by chieftains believed to have inherited their positions from their fathers.

The sea did more than feed and nourish the Calusa.

It furnished the building blocks for their homes and villages, constructed on massive mounds of shells.

The more powerful the chief, the taller his house.

The Calusa who practiced human sacrifice and may have taken multiple wives did not take kindly toward European missionaries who arrived in the 1600s, and tried to persuade them to abandon their barbaric ways and convert to Christianity.

- These missionaries were often spurned.

A lot of these Christian folks were decapitated in front of one another.

At least one of their eyes removed and fed to a so-called Calusa god who enjoyed eating human eyes.

- [Narrator] But even as fierce as they were, by the mid 19th Century, the Calusa were gone, wiped out by disease imported by the Europeans, or captured and carried off by slave traders.

- We think that in about the mid 1700s, that the last of the people that we call Calusa were actually forcibly removed from these areas, including all of Charlotte Harbor region, as well as the Pine Island area itself, and we think that this was a result primarily of slavery.

People descended from the Creek Indians known in one case as the Yamasee had been working with the British in the Carolinas, and the British had provided firearms and other goods to these folks and told them basically that they needed to provide slaves.

- [Narrator] Pine Island, once the heart of a thriving culture, became a virtually deserted nautical outpost.

- So effectively Pine Island was abandoned in a sense.

It went from being this major cultural center and village to basically being a place that fishing people started to discover, and there's also some known history about pirates in the area.

One British pirate in particular named Brew Baker was in the area that's now known as Bokeelia which is at the northern tip of Pine Island.

- [Narrator] Cuban fishermen who had dealt with the Calusa found the island fertile ground, even adopting fishing techniques developed by their Native American predecessors.

- The Cubans came over, they took a lot of the Indians as slaves back to their country.

They also hired 'em to work on the fish boats and things like that.

So, they were involved here and of course there were some intermarriages and things like that with the people on our island.

So we do have a lot of the Spanish names.

- Soon after the Calusa Indians left Southwest Florida, in the mid 1750s, we start to see the arrival of what are called Cuban fisherfolk who we think took advantage of the rich local estuaries in the areas around Useppa Island as well as Pine Island, and we know about these folks not just from local history that was recorded, but also from a number of Cuban artifacts that were recovered on Pine Island sites, including rather the Pineland site, and also including the Useppa Island sites.

We know of one individual, a Cuban fisherman in particular, Juan Caldez who had an operation on Useppa Island, and I believe that his home has actually been identified by archeologists.

(gentle guitar music) - [Narrator] Pine Island's identity as a fishing community was established by the Calusa, and solidified by the Cubans, but it would take another hundred years and a Scandinavian sailor to turn it into a permanent settlement.

- People would come here and evidently would stay just a short while and move on maybe after a few months and so forth.

Most of 'em were fishermen, and finally in 1873, Captain John Smith came to Pine Island and brought his family here.

He had lived over on the mainland and had a hurricane where he was, and decided that Pine Island didn't, so he thought he would come here and live.

So he brought his children and his wife with him.

We still have some of those people on the island from his family.

- [Narrator] It seemed somehow fitting that Pine Island's first permanent settler would draw his livelihood from the sea.

- He went out and he would take people fishing, and you have to remember back at that time that would have been in rowboats and things like that, but he would be their guide and take 'em out.

That was his living.

Well it attracted people and slowly more people started coming out, and so that's how we got started being on Pine Island and making a community.

- [Narrator] The lure of fishing in a warm water paradise soon began drawing tourists and visitors from across the land, and by 1880 the community of St. James on the southern tip of the island was growing.

A group of northern investors built a resort called St. James on the Gulf, with the 50 room San Carlos Hotel as its centerpiece, but the company folded in the early 1900s and the hotel later burned down.

Through the years farming, raising cattle, logging, even sessile hemp rope production all were woven into Pine Island's economic fabric.

But practically from the day man first set foot on the island, fishing both sport and commercial, has been the backbone of its culture of self-determination.

(jaunty piano music) - The fishing community is a very central part of that.

They very much contribute to the independence of Pine Island, and they're still here.

- [Narrator] The state's burgeoning population coupled with the growing popularity of Florida fishing was not without a downside.

The more people who went fishing, the more fish that were caught, and ultimately that meant fewer fish to catch.

Sport fishermen and the guides and charter captains who serve them, blamed commercial net fishermen for depleting the fisheries.

In 1994, the issue went before voters and Floridians adopted a constitutional amendment banning so-called entanglement nets.

It took effect the following year.

That was a major, but not yet fatal blow to the commercial fishing industry on Pine Island.

- The so-called net ban wasn't really a net ban.

It was a net restrictions, and we still have people on the island who still make their living with fishing nets, and seem to do rather well at it.

- [Narrator] It also gave birth to a new breed of commercial fishing, aquaculture.

Farmers buy tiny seed clams, raise them on shore in trays, then plant them at the bottom of the bay in mesh bags.

15 Lee County clam farms sold an estimated 10 million clams in 2003, a 1.3 million dollar crop.

- [Man] Got farm raised clams.

- [Narrator] Pine Island's southern location and its rich estuary system offer great potential for the clam farm industry, but if hopes are high, so are the risks.

- Aquaculture, clam farms is a growing industry, but I don't see it growing all that fast.

They've had an awful lot of bad luck.

It takes a couple of years to grow a clam to the point where it's ready for market, and then along comes a red tide bloom and you're closed down until the bloom leaves.

(wind howling) Try again, and then along came Hurricane Charlie which was when the clams again were ready for market, but that ended that.

So it's a risky business, and it's also a lot of hard work.

You have to learn to be a diver.

It'll work for some people, but I don't see it turning into a giant industry.

(gentle guitar music) - [Narrator] Southwest Florida was mostly frontier around the turn of the 20th Century, and life was even harder on Pine Island, cut off as it was from the mainland by water on all sides.

- The first folks who lived out here were really mail carriers, and a lot of them would commit to taking long boat trips after taking a mule driven cart even across the length of the island.

Of course the roads were paved with dirt with some fill from the shell mounds.

- You have to remember if you were going to live on Pine Island years ago, and I'm going back quite a ways, you would have a lot of mosquitoes.

We complain about mosquitoes now, but you would've had a lot of bugs.

That would've been one thing.

You would have had not running water.

You would not have had electric, you would not have had television.

Food had to be brought in, like your staples like flour and sugar.

Maybe the housewife needed material 'cause they made all their own clothes usually.

Things like that and you would go down and tell the captain that came out here with a ferry and brought the mail and so forth three times a week, and say hey, I'm going to have a party next week, and I need ice.

- [Narrator] In 1926, work got underway to build a swing bridge over Matlacha Pass, linking Pine Island with the mainland.

Construction was set back by the hurricane of '26 and the span finally opened in 1927, shortening the trip to Fort Myers by boat by two days.

The bridge brought special joy to the life of Harry Stringfellow who had moved to Pine Island in 1900.

Stringfellow was a Lee County commissioner, and attending a meeting in Fort Myers took three days of his time, including mule drawn wagon and steamer rides across San Carlos Bay.

Stringfellow was instrumental in developing a network of roads on Pine Island, and the 17 mile highway that dissects the island from Bokeelia to St. James City bears his name today.

At the time the bridge opened however, no one dreamed it would soon earn an international reputation.

During World War II, thousands of young airmen trained at Page Field at Fort Myers, and the Buckingham Air Base in East Lee County.

It didn't take them long to learn how to have a good time without having to spend a lot of money.

Like the Calusa and the Cubans before them, these young flyers embraced the joys of fishing the fertile waters around Pine Island.

- These soldiers found out they loved to fish and didn't have much money to be running around or anything.

They could come out here and fish, and we have pictures here of 'em lined up, and they get so full of people, the bridge would, that they'd push each other off.

So that is the story, some lady said this is the fishingest bridge in the world, and that why it's still called that.

- [Narrator] A new concrete bridge was built in 1969, and plans were approved to start work on a replacement in 2008.

(gentle guitar music) The ancient Calusa were a study in contradictions.

Battle hardened and war-like, they maintained a standing army and gave no quarter to their perceived enemies.

Yet that ferocity was tempered by an uncharacteristically artistic side.

- One might think that a group with such a focus on war, and with a whole class of society devoted to warriors, might be more committed to that than to other pursuits.

However, we know that they were also amazing artists.

A number of pieces, not only wooden figurines but also wooden face masks, very brightly painted tableaus of other animals, especially fish, alligators, wolves, cats, have all been discovered, especially at the Key Marco site, and additionally carved bone implements, probably hairpins that were elaborately carved out of deer bone fragments have also been found, including on Pine Island.

- [Narrator] Archeologists speculate that artistic bent may have simply been the result of easy living and good fishing.

- [Kara] The reason we think this is is because the estuaries were so rich that these people were able to actually live in one area and focus on a variety of tasks.

It doesn't take a long time, if you're in a rich environment, to catch fish, and what that means is that you have the rest of your day to do social activities, to play music, to pursue things like art.

- [Narrator] So perhaps it was the ancient ghosts of the Calusa, or maybe the laid back live and let live barefoot lifestyle had something to do with it, but somewhere along its journey through time a funny thing happened to Pine Island.

It became a hotbed for the arts, attracting painters, writers, sculptors, all of whom filled the galleries and made an indelible mark on the community, leaving it ablaze in colorful buildings, colorful artwork, and colorful personalities.

- Pine Island boasts a number of writers and artists, many of whom are internationally known.

So there is kind of this independent creative sense about the island, which again reminds me of the earliest residents here.

There is kind of this energy and creative force here since at least 2,000 years ago.

- [Narrator] One sure way to get labeled a tourist on Pine Island is to mispronounce the name of the funky little artistic enclave that serves as the portal to the island.

It is not Mat-latcha, but no one seems certain just where the name Matlacha originated.

- Some sources say that Matlacha is an Indian word for water up to your neck, which is an interesting name because in fact the water today is shallow, and at low tide you could actually walk across part of the Pine Island Sound.

Another theory though is that Matlacha might have meant warrior, or defender, and the problem with any of this of course is it's oral history, and there are no Calusa Indians around now to explain whether this is true or not, so it's really all folklore.

- [Narrator] Legend has it that St. James City was named by Jesuit missionaries who tried to establish a mission in their saint's name at the southern tip of Pine Island only to be driven off by the Calusa, and the origin of the name Bokeelia at the northern tip of Pine Island?

- [Kara] We think that is a new form of a Spanish word bocilla, which means little mouth, just as Boca Grande means large mouth.

And again this all goes back to the days of seafaring, fishing, and of course the pirates, basically terrorists out here.

Still there's a lot of local lore about what those folks did.

But as far as we know, there is no buried treasure on Pine Island.

- [Narrator] Ironically, the island's name itself may no longer be a good fit.

- Pine Island of course was originally named because of the high number of pine trees out here.

Sadly, in my opinion, there are not many pine trees out here anymore.

There was a great deal of logging of course, and a lot of those trees were actually felled and brought out for construction in other places.

What is good to note though is that a number of the historic homes out here were built with Pine Island pine, which has a great reputation as being a very long lasting and sturdy wood.

- [Narrator] Those pine groves have largely given way to a proliferation of palm tree plantations, prompting tongue in cheek suggestions that perhaps the name might have to be changed to Palm Island.

- So palm plantations are our current biggest threat on Pine Island.

We all thought it was over a few years ago, that perhaps the palm farms had expanded to their maximum, but it's not true.

They're still buying up every single acre of native forestry on Pine Island and turning it into palm farms.

No I wouldn't be in favor of changing the name, but the point is well taken, it is a palm farm.

- [Narrator] In some ways, Pine Island is the antithesis of what people have come to expect of Florida.

It doesn't have rampant development or miles of sandy beaches lined with posh resorts and high rise condos.

Most Pine Islanders like it just fine that way.

- We like it out here, we like the quietness.

We like the environment, and when we go to the mainland we really feel like we're in a foreign country.

I don't think it's my imagination, but it's hotter and more miserable over there.

It's just not Pine Island.

- [Narrator] It was no accident that Pine Island managed to hold onto its past.

Much of the credit for keeping fragile wetlands out of the hands of developers goes to the Calusa Land Trust of which Phil Buchanan is a former president.

- We have 2,000 acres preserved right now, and most of our work these days is working on the 2020 program as partners.

It's been immensely successful, but this is in its 31st year this year, the Calusa Land Trust.

It's one of the most successful local land trusts in the entire country, and it's strictly Pine Island.

- [Narrator] Development is also held in check by a land plan 20 years in the making, the so-called 910 rule that restricts development when traffic counts through Matlacha reach 910 vehicles per hour during peak travel times.

Buchanan credits the nature of Pine Islanders for getting that plan approved by Lee County commissioners.

- The people of Pine Island did it.

They attended meetings in Fort Myers by the hundreds.

They attended meetings out here.

We had one meeting, 350 people.

The vote for the land plan was 350 to nine I think it was.

That's the way it goes out here.

I suppose islanders are a lot like that.

Mountaineers are like that too, fierce and independent and very defensive of their own space.

- [Narrator] Pine Island may have resisted development, but one project that was welcomed came back in 1980 when the first shopping center and supermarket opened on Stringfellow Road, just south of Pine Island's center, cutting down dramatically on those dreaded trips to the mainland.

- When we moved here, we had to go clear into Cape Coral or Fort Myers to get our groceries, and drugs, anything drugstore that you would need and things like that, and I think it was 18 or 19 years ago that Winn-Dixie, we have this little mall here at the center of the island, and they came in and at that time I believe it was Eckerd Drugstore, and so forth.

There was a liquor store and beauty shop and so forth up there.

And that was a blessing, as you say, that we didn't have to run into town.

- [Narrator] Spend some time on Pine Island, and eventually you'll sense a degree of latent distrust, or even downright resentment toward its next door neighbor.

- There is a great deal of suspicion on Pine Island as regards Cape Coral, and it's for a good reason.

Our philosophies are entirely different.

I read the press every day, and I see the attitudes and what not in Cape Coral, and there couldn't be more opposed to the way we do business on Pine Island.

Cape Coral seems to think more development, the better.

We're just the other way around.

We're also a little bit intimidated by our big neighbor to the east.

I mean what if they want to expand?

There's only one direction to go and that's toward us, and we don't want any parts of that.

We've even looked at the annexation laws in Florida and they're fairly easy for cities to annex things.

So yes, I think we have good reason to be intimidated by our big neighbor to the east.

- [Narrator] With several thousand years of stubborn self-determination written in the pages of its history book, why hasn't Pine Island incorporated itself and declared independence from Lee County?

- We've considered incorporation, we've considered it very seriously just a couple years ago, but there was a serious question about whether the county commissioners were going to enforce the 910 rule.

And when that was, when it was seriously questioned we looked at incorporation as an alternative, and had the 910 rule not been enforced, we would've pursued incorporation.

We in fact spent a bunch of money, did a feasibility survey, found it was financially feasible, and we're ready to proceed on it as a backup system.

- [Narrator] There is something about Pine Island that engenders a passionate sense of place among those who call it home.

For some of them, it is a traumatic experience to venture across the bridge at Matlacha.

- [Phil] Everybody on Pine Island says that they don't like to leave Pine Island at all, and they only go to the mainland when they have to.

And I think that's largely true.

- You know I've heard people say to me I never want to leave Pine Island.

I don't care if I go off of Pine Island, I don't want to go off Pine Island.

First of all, we don't like all that traffic I guess.

The gasoline right now might have something to do with that.

But yes, I've had people say when I leave Pine Island permanently, it's going to be in a casket so there you are, that's how we all love it and I mean a lot of people do anyway.

- [Narrator] This 17 mile long waterbound community has a richly textured history framed by a parade of diverse cultures.

Pine Islanders seem keenly aware of the legacy of independence and downright feistiness handed them by their predecessors.

And while much of Southwest Florida looks eagerly to the future with visions of growth, development, and prosperity dancing in its head, Pine Islanders look fondly to the past.

They know in their hearts it can't be brought back, but neither are they anxious to see rampant change come barreling west down Pine Island Road.

Ask a long-time Pine Islander what his island should look like in 10 or 20 years, and the answer you get may sound something like this.

Pretty much the way it is now.

- [Phil] Pine Island is very much a different world out here.

It's not just the environment, it's also the people.

People out here sometimes haven't locked their doors in 20 or 30 years.

Now how many places in the United States can you find that?

(pleasant music) So we just got done completing watching Pine Island and Old Florida in a new millennium.

And I have to say that, you know, it's showing its age a little bit.

You know, that program was developed in 2007.

And so we've seen many airings of it over the decades.

And it's time for us to bring a new, fresh, untold stories to the public.

And that's what we're doing right now at WGCU.

We've hired this new documentary unit, as you've heard, and we're so thrilled that they'll be taking the opportunity to revisit and tell the resilience and the rebuilding of all three of our barrier islands, Pine Island, Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach.

I'm Pam James.

I am the executive producer of content here at WGCU.

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So we're going to be talking to the documentary unit here very shortly.

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And now we're going to go see Sandra Viktorova and hear what they are planning on doing about Pine Island with the Doc unit team.

So, Tom, you were right out on Pine Island right after Hurricane Ian.

That was an important place for you as a as a resident yourself, what was that like for you to to go and see what you saw and the how was the area doing?

Yeah, it was amazing.

We we were covering the press conference with DeSantis the day after the hurricane, and they said to meet at Bert's Bar and it was gone.

So I mean it for me, I'm from this community too, and I loved going to the iconic Bert's bar, and to just see it gone was horrible.

But I was able to reach out with Bernard Johnson, who's the owner, and he kind of toured me through what was left.

And it's just really heartbreaking.

You know, another Leona Lovegrove, you know, has had a studio there for many years.

People love it.

It's world renowned.

And she walked us through just the devastation that was there.

And so it's just really sad to see these iconic places that people know and love gone.

And what what's next, Janine, you've been covering these communities for years.

I know you were there right after the storm.

Then you were there a year later.

What is most impacted you in the progress that you're seeing?

Yeah, I mean, it's in a place like Pine Island.

People are really close knit and they take care of each other.

So I think that is the most impactful part of covering these stories on the on the long term.

But people are still really struggling out there.

You know, when I was there a year later, there were still tarps on the roofs.

People were still waiting for insurance checks to come in.

But they've built a strong long term recovery group on Pine Island and they're looking at how to build back stronger and build back better and how to be better prepared for the next hurricane.

So, Susan, how do you even begin to put this together?

How do you decide, okay, what is going to be part of this documentary?

What should stay, what should go?

How do you start?

It can be overwhelming, but we always start with research.

We go into the archives, we look at old photos, we read old historical books.

Many of many of those books have been written by people within the community.

And then we go and we talk to people.

These people are sharing intimate details of their lives and they're trusting us with these stories.

And that's really important to us to be able to uphold that reputation within the community.

So right now, for what we do, we're in the process of just getting more research, getting more B-roll, trying to show the people what the story is and how it happened.

Jeanine, what's been the feedback when you tell Southwest Florida you're working on documentaries, on the history of our community, what's the feedback been like?

It's been fantastic so far.

You know, people love the untold stories brand.

They love the videos that have been playing for several years.

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That's incredible.

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Now we're going to go back to the doc unit and hear a little bit more about what they've been working on.

And I'm telling you, it's going to be a lot of fun because they're actually doing a lot more stuff beyond documentary.

So stay tuned.

A century ago, Sanibel Island, Florida, was a rugged tropical outpost.

Few were hard enough to brave the heat, the isolation and mosquitoes swarms.

Yet a husband and wife saw potential in the salty soil.

Isaiah and Hannah gave and came to Sanibel around 1917.

At that time, Sanibel was known for farming tomatoes and collard greens and beans and potatoes.

And then, of course, you had the hurricanes that destroyed San Jose for farming.

And so then my dad and everybody else had to do something different.

The Gavin's were among the first black families to settle on Sanibel.

Another family were the Walkers Pearl, Alice and Harry.

And, of course, the Walkers had several girls.

And my dad married one of them, Eleanor.

And then after that, there was just a slew of cabins.

My name is Kenneth Gavin, and I'm the fourth of what I call the 20 children of Edmund and Eleanor.

Gavin and Eugene Gavin.

I was the fifth child.

We would be considered a founding family.

And even some of the white families that were here on Sanibel.

If it wasn't for the Gavin's in the walker, they wouldn't have been able to stay because we supported them so much.

There is so much history to be preserved.

What an interesting story, Janine, for you.

What was the most fascinating part of their history?

Yeah, it was really interesting to learn about race relations on Sanibel Island during segregation because it was different than the mainland in Fort Myers and in other parts of the South.

People interacted, especially kids.

Kids played together even though they couldn't go to school together because of the segregation laws.

So the black kids went to one one school and the white kids went to another.

The black kids, they walked to school.

The white kids rode the bus.

So I think things were really different on Sanibel.

So many more stories to tell.

And if history is important to you, preserving the history of southwest Florida.

We hope you take a moment to go to WGCU.org or call that number on the screen and support WGCU.

Thank you so much Southwest Florida.

Now we're going to go back to our final segment of our Untold Stories Marathon.

But I want to again encourage you to support public media again.

Think about the ways that you can give, whether it's $5 a month as a WGCU sustainer, $10 a month to get that vintage PBS T-shirt or $20 a month and get the mug with the DVDs of the programs that you're watching right now.

Now on to Sanibel and its causeway.

And, you know, we do not know how important that link really was until Hurricane Ian and that Causeway is the link between the mainland and the barrier islands.

And when Hurricane Ian took it out, it really showed us what it was like back in the days.

So we're going to see how important and how that causeway came about and what it was like even before the causeway, where the only way you could get to Sanibel was by boat or by ferry.

So the numbers on your screen go online to WGCU.org.

Make a gift to support of any dollar amount.

Think about the investment in the storytelling that you're about to watch and what we're going to be hearing about later next time.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] This program was made possible the the Florida Humanities Council.

We come from all over.

And we become one state where we share in the history and become part of the culture that is Florida.

The Florida Humanities Council, bringing Floridians together by sharing the stories of our state.

(gentle piano music) And by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

(gentle guitar music) (surf music) - [Narrator] It was 1963 when the mainland of life was first linked with the outlying windswept islands of Sanibel and Captiva.

Three bridges connecting two man-made islands delivered a county highway onto the bayside shore of Sanibel.

The long and languid days of the ferry, which had served the islands for 36 consecutive years, became a thing of the past.

- Coming over the causeway for the first time, there were no lights on it.

And I'm at Punta Rassa, and five minutes later, I'm on the island, it was really an eerie feeling.

Compared to sitting on that ferry boat for 20 minutes, and boom, I'm here.

- [Narrator] It was that lack of connection with civilization that so inspired Anne Morrow Lindbergh to write her classic collection of essays, "Gift from the Sea," while vacationing on the islands in the early '50s.

- [Anne] How wonderful are islands, islands in space, like this one I have come to, ringed about by miles of water, linked by no bridges, no cables, no telephones.

An island from the world and the world's life.

Islands in time like the short vacation of mine.

The past and the future are cut off.

Only the present remains.

Existence in the present gives island living an extreme vividness and purity.

- [Narrator] A young, brazen New York artist, who was making his own stand against conformity, didn't have the same reaction to being cut off from the lifeblood of humanity.

Robert Rauschenberg was enamored by the far out feel of Captiva, the smaller sister island to the north of Sanibel, which was connected by a bridge at Blind Pass.

But as he considered a place to buy, he wasn't so smitten by the fact that the last ferry off the island was at 5:15.

- I didn't know how I could live after five o'clock, knowing I was trapped.

But I made a kind of a private rule.

I had my building in New York too, still.

So I thought, okay, if you ever feel too claustrophobic or too trapped, you just move back to New York.

And that seemed to satisfy my fears.

("Tequila") - [Narrator] But the McQuade family, who moved to the island in '58, the island's low-key ambience was a welcome change.

- Of course it was primitive compared to what it is now.

But it was something we fell in love with immediately.

My family came from Baltimore, so, we basically came from city life to island life.

And we really fit in very well.

We had a one room schoolhouse, I did go to Sanibel School with my sister and my brother.

And I think there were 29 kids going there at the time.

And we loved it.

- [Narrator] By the late '50s, talk of a bridge started to seem like a reality.

- The first person who ever said anything to me about it was my father.

One time he said, I was very small, he said, "I won't live to see it, but you'll see "A bridge across to this island."

And I didn't pay any attention to it.

And unfortunately, a lot of things my dad said I didn't pay attention to and now regret.

But I didn't pay much attention to it.

And he died in '52.

You know, it was 11 years after he died the bridge came.

- [Narrator] While a zealous developer by the name of Hugo Lindgrin was determined to see the bridge built, islanders weren't so eager for the throes of development to come to the quiet faraway island.

The population of fewer than 1,000 didn't want a bridge to interfere with their island lifestyle.

- You have to remember, this was an island.

We were far removed from all the rules and regulations that a city would have or a civilized society would have.

- [Narrator] Some tried to sabotage the plan to build a bridge.

- I was opposed to it, fought it tooth and nail.

I'll give you a good example.

Originally, the bridge was supposed to come across right here.

And I owned that land, my two brothers and I.

And I wouldn't give it to them.

So they moved it down there.

I thought it would stall them, but it didn't.

- [Narrator] Opponents feared it would forever alter the island.

- It changes it, the whole place.

I thought we could parlay the ferry ride to both an economic and an environmental asset for business and the environment and everything.

It was a wonderful little short trip.

You could watch the seagulls.

- And every time I got to thinking about it, a bridge being across here, we would no longer, we would lose some of our identity.

Our uniqueness, so to speak.

- [Narrator] For some school kids, the coming of the causeway was a welcome relief.

- Well, there wasn't a school for the black kids on Sanibel.

There was just an elementary school.

And of course we weren't allowed to attend the schools, so we had to be transported by the Lee County Public Transportation to the ferry landing, which is here, and we would catch the ferry to Punta Rassa.

And from Punta Rassa, we would be bused over to the Martin Luther King area to go to school.

- [Narrator] The timing of that crossing meant that the island kids would miss the first hour of school.

- The first ferry would leave at eight o'clock, but we weren't allowed to catch that ferry.

That was for the white kids.

And we had to catch the second ferry, which was a half an hour later.

- [Narrator] For another schoolkid, not getting to ride the ferry came as a major letdown.

- I was upset because, at 12, I was due to start going to school in Fort Myers.

Sanibel School was grades one through six.

And that was one of the big rites of passage.

Is that the bus would come across on the ferry, and that's when all the kids would have all this wonderful free time.

You could either do your homework, or you could just hang out on the ferry.

And my sister always made it sound like it was such a wonderful time.

And I just felt like I had been shorted.

Because I didn't get to ride the bus on the ferry.

- [Narrator] Meanwhile, former Coast Guardman Bob Sabatino, who had been stationed at Key West before he moved to Sanibel in the late '50s, made a living off the building of the bridge in his early days as a fishing guide.

- In 1959, I found out they were gonna build a causeway, that it went through, so I came over here and figured I'd get a job doing anything.

So for a dollar and a quarter an hour, I worked on the bridge.

- [Narrator] On May 26th, 1963, the ferryboat made its final voyage as the causeway opened the floodgates to more than 1,000 cars for the first time on Periwinkle Way, the island's main artery.

- When I was home, my home was on Periwinkle, and all day long, the traffic was, you were allowed to come over free.

And it was a steady stream of cars rolling up and down Periwinkle.

I said, I'm glad I'm not out there.

- [Narrator] Prior to that day, traffic was a predictable and known quantity on the island.

- Anytime you saw more than one car coming down Periwinkle, you just got out of the way and let six or seven cars go by, because you knew the ferry just landed.

- [Narrator] While some perceived a more gradual change on the island, others were astounded by the immediate impact.

- Complete turnaround.

Civilization was here.

It's just incredible what it did.

And it happened very fast.

I mean, once the causeway was finished, homes.

Remember Lindgrin, Lindgrin was one of the major pushers for the causeway.

Well, right at the end of the causeway road was all his property, and he built all these homes right there.

So the minute you came to this isolated island, the first thing you saw was a housing development.

So that was the end of the seclusion of the island.

- [Narrator] For some, the perception of change was not so fast and furious.

- It was several years after the bridge came before we had anything noticeable, plus the island was starting to grow.

I mean, we were very famous for seashells.

We had three or four resorts, Casa Ybel, Island Inn, 'Tween Waters on Captiva, but it was a slow process.

It was more like evolution than revolution.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] By the early '70s, however, the impacts of the bridge were becoming quite noticeable to all islanders.

- I just did feel that in the '60s, we were relieved that it didn't seem to have an immediate harsh impact.

But I think in the '70s it did.

And it certainly affected the explosion of growth in the mid-70s.

Probably, well, I'm sure it is one of the major reasons why we incorporated.

- [Narrator] It was 1971 when a beleaguered ex-CIA operative sought solace on Sanibel Island after a poisoning forced him out of his job, and nearly ended his life.

- I was living in Europe at the time, with my family.

And I was working at CIA.

And I was back in Washington for a consultation, and had sort of a dizzy spell, which ended into a serious dizzy spell.

It turned out I had picked up some kind of a systemic poisoning and collapsed, and was put in a hospital, and was very lucky to survive it.

I think that the doctor told me that the number of survivors from that kind of a problem were less than 10%.

So I felt, you know, I maybe had some special mission in life that started off by coming to Sanibel.

And it sort of changed the way I lived.

- [Narrator] Having vacationed on the island in the late '60s, and the fact that his former boss, Don Whitehead, had retired to Sanibel, led Goss to rent a home on Buttonwood Lane with his wife and four kids.

- I started a program of walking to the beach first, and then once I could get as far as the beach, then it was walking on the beach.

And I measured my improved health every day by the direct proportion of the amount of pain and the amount of distance I could walk.

And I found that I was gradually getting better.

And why not, I mean how could you not get better here?

- [Narrator] But it was becoming increasingly evident in the early '70s that the pristine elements of Sanibel that had nursed the 32 year old back to health were increasingly in jeopardy.

- What happened was this bridge, which had been sort of there since '63, was sort of a sleeping giant.

And all of a sudden it woke up in the early '70s, and it's as if somebody lit a fuse or rang a bell or something, and people started coming with ideas to let's build high rises, and you know, we can really make this place look like Miami Beach.

(jazz music) - [Narrator] Along with Whitehead and Fred Valton, another former intelligence operative, the former agents created a newspaper in 1973, The Island Reporter.

- I don't know what degree of impact it had in the overall impact of people's motivations to vote.

But it certainly got the word around.

It was all very well done, straightforwardly, fully transparent, because of that newspaper.

So I think that is about as good as it gets if you're in the newspaper business.

I think it serves a community purpose.

And I think it did matter.

- [Narrator] On November 5th, 1974, 63% of about 1,000 Sanibelians voted to incorporate and take charge of their own destiny.

An election for council members then put top vote-getter Goss in charge as the first mayor of the island.

- At the time that Sanibel incorporated and tried to take its destiny in its own hands, so it's very much a sense of American fair play afoot.

And it's very important to remember that.

This wasn't about throwing somebody off the island, or keeping somebody from enjoying the beaches or the birds, or the wonderful quality of life we have.

It was sharing it on the basis that it's here, not changing it into something else that it wasn't.

- [Narrator] Meanwhile, Captivans opted out of incorporating with Sanibel, and stayed on the fringe of civilization.

Remaining an outpost suited Robert Rauschenberg just fine for what he was looking for in his island hideaway.

- I love the peace.

I've gone through several phases myself.

Right now, 'cause I've had a stroke, I can't go fishing.

But I used to, I had my own garden.

I lived off the island.

I used to love swimming, I still do.

I used to foolishly bake myself in the sun.

I just felt healthy.

- [Narrator] The small town feel was pervasive on both islands, with a community spirit very much alive.

- When I first came over here, there was a postmistress, Odie, she knew all the names of the people, and just a lot about their lives.

We don't have that now.

Which was the result of the bridge.

- It was a year after incorporation that Sanibel's charm captured a visitor from Washington, DC by surprise.

- The couple days that we were down here, I came to the conclusion that this would be a great place to have a business.

So during our short visit, the week we were down here, I bought a motel, and, within a month or so was down here running the thing.

And then bought the restaurant next door.

- [Narrator] A former administrator in DC, Janes became one of the powers that be shortly after his arrival.

In doing so, he contributed to the city's ability to stave off development.

- I served on the planning commission for a number of years, eight years, I believe, prior to serving on the city council for eight years.

And the planning commission was very, very strict in terms of interpreting the Landings Code and the Land Development Code.

And opted towards the green side.

I mean, they did not want development.

- [Narrator] The look of the island reflected such radical rules and effective enforcement, marking a new island attitude.

- When I was growing up, if you wanted to build something, you built it.

If you wanted to chop a tree down, you chopped it.

If you wanted to plant one, you planted it.

Well, unfortunately, with, when you have people around, your freedom is somewhat restricted.

(inspiring music) - [Narrator] With stringent regulations in place, the city of Sanibel outlawed obtuse aspects of civilization.

No traffic lights, no neon signs, no billboards, no high rises.

And along with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, and the JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, islanders managed to designate more than half the island as preserved land.

In the late '80s, that lack of contemporary Americana attracted another unsuspecting visitor, a school superintendent from Brooklyn.

- I got here by making a wrong turn.

I was on my way to Cape Coral to try to sell my mother's lots.

And I made a mistake and ended up on Sanibel.

And then wished that I'd had lots on Sanibel instead of Cape Coral.

That was in the late '80s, probably '87, '88.

I fell in love with it, as soon as I recovered from making the wrong turn.

- [Narrator] That which continues to captivate many a visitor is the product of deliberate intent by islanders.

- The Sanibel plan has a statement that the people of this community have thought about long and hard.

And they've decided that that's what they want their community to look like.

And it focuses on preserving the unique qualities of Sanibel.

The outdoor recreational opportunities.

This is not a place where you're gonna find a lot of bowling alleys and McDonald's and so forth.

This is a place where you're gonna find great beach opportunity, birdwatching, shelling, swimming, fishing, things that you do either by yourself or with your family that are fun, that are extraordinary, that Mother Nature has given us, and the stewardship of that seemed to be a reasonable challenge.

(gentle rock music) - [Narrator] Captivans on the other hand were still at the whim of Lee County government.

And began to see intense change.

When the Weil sisters could no longer afford the taxes, Timmy's Nook, a veritable monument to old Florida, closed the door of its ever-popular watering hole and casual restaurant in 1994, signaling a new era for that island.

Small beach cottages vanished, seemingly overnight.

- It's just not the same place.

But it's still beautiful.

It's a wonderful place.

It's just different.

And people love it, they still think it's magical.

I get a little frustrated at times, especially when I see some of the huge buildings going up that look like federal buildings, that belong in Washington, DC or something.

And it's supposed to be a beach cottage.

("Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zepplin) - [Narrator] Having crossed the causeway through the '70s and '80s as Rauschenberg's assistant, Darryl Pottorf has since earned his own stature in the international art world.

He built his home and studio on Captiva in 1994.

- I got lucky, I got in early, when it wasn't as expensive.

Now, I mean, who can afford to spend a million dollars on a house and be a gardener, or a carpenter?

It's just not possible.

You know, that's the sad part.

Is that there's not a community anymore.

When I first came here, up and down the street were different characters, that lived here all the time.

(soothing music) - [Narrator] By the late '90s, talk began to surface of replacing the original causeway and its drawbridge with a high span bridge.

Islanders once again voiced their opposition to Lee County's plans.

Bob Janes was mayor of the island at the time, and he would go on to become the chair of the Lee County Commission.

- The argument was whether it should be a single span bridge running all the way from Punta Rassa to Sanibel, or whether it should be different.

Well, this is where the Save Our Bay, and that group were very successful in terms of changing the county's mind to permit what we have today.

In other words, three different bridges.

- [Narrator] A 70 foot high span would replace the drawbridge.

But the other two bridges would be replaced by bridges of the same height.

Keeping the scale of development at a human level is what inspired Joseph Pacheco to retire to the islands in 1996 and then become a poet.

- It's a wonderful place for a poet.

We show that we can strike a balance between nature and people, between people living here full-time and snowbirds living here part-time.

We can balance it all and still have a beautiful place.

But we have to work on it.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] On September 8th, 2007, the new, $130 million causeway officially became the 21st century link between Sanibel and civilization.

But not all islanders were convinced of the need for such a vital link.

- I said before, if we're gonna have a bridge, I want the very best bridge we can have, for safety and that sort of thing.

I'd much rather do away with it.

I would rather see less people on the island, but at the same time, I'm in business here, it's good for business.

- [Narrator] Some still longed for the ferry lifestyle.

- If you ask me personally, selfishly, would I like the bridge to go, yeah, I would.

I like the ferryboat way of life.

I think it's very charming.

I didn't see it here, but I've seen it in other communities, and I love it.

It's sort of a self reliance to it, and a, you know, a different way of going about your life.

The mail comes at a certain time, and that's a community event.

It brings people together.

And I think that's good.

But I think Sanibel has gone beyond that.

And so I look at the bridge now as a way for people who are not lucky enough to live out here to be able to come out and get a few hours of a great place.

- [Narrator] Others see the causeway as having made the difference in their very existence on the island.

- The bridge has opened up a lot of doors for businesses and people to change their residences and so forth.

And I own a plumbing company now, and I think because of the growth of Sanibel, it was enabling me to make a living and to provide for my family.

And I love Sanibel, I never wanted to leave.

And the fact that I was able to establish a business made it possible for me to root down here.

- [Narrator] Although no one expects such an intense impact by the new bridge, it already has quickened the pace of time.

- Oddly enough, I, I, (bell rings) the only thing I will miss is that I actually enjoyed when the drawbridge was up, because it gave you a minute to pause, kind of like on the ferry.

You were, you had to stop and enjoy the scenery.

And you had to enjoy the water views and where you were actually living.

- [Narrator] But for the undeniable need to move speedily in contemporary reality, the drawbridge, or even ferry lifestyle might be truly appealing.

- It's 50-50 between nostalgia and inconvenience trying to get to my plane on time when the drawbridge is up, and 50% for the nostalgia saying, isn't it neat to be able to sit here on this bridge, watch the birds and stuff while the boat goes by.

This is really what Sanibel's all about.

(gentle piano music) - [Narrator] One thing's for certain.

It is definitely a bridge to somewhere that may be on the map, but still is somewhat off the grid.

A place that has resisted much of the anywhere culture of mainstream life.

No drive-thrus, no four lanes, no mega shopping malls nor box stores.

And a place where you can still tune into what's real.

- I started paying attention to the tides, to the wind, to all the bird sounds, and the fish jumping, and all that occupied my day.

And interested me.

In fact, I felt a little too busy.

(surf music) Now we know the old timers really didn't like the causeway, but really it has become an essential, vital link to the mainland and to the barrier islands.

And, you know, it's amazing.

Again, once Hurricane Ian took it out, how critical we realize how much that had become a vital link.

And then think about the resiliency of human ingenuity that in 15 days we were able to put it back together again to at least get something back on and off the island after the hurricane.

And that's why I'm so thrilled to be able to talk with the doc unit that WGCU has created, because they're going to be telling these stories that that are moving forward and it's our history, but it's also the future of what our history is going to be, if that makes any sense.

I'm Pam James, the executive producer of Content here with WGCU, and I'm thrilled that we are able to bring you this kind of content and really kind of revitalize and rebuild our documentary storytelling through the power of public media.

And you really are a critical link to this whole thing.

So you are the link to public media and to the community itself.

That's why we're coming to ask for your support and investment right now by calling the number on your screen or go to WGCU.org.

There's a red donate button, hit it, make it a gift of support of any dollar amount or consider if you're super high tech, go to the QR code down there and use your phone to make a gift to support that way.

We do have several ways for you to give.

They could be as low as $5 a month as a WGCU Sustainer and you can get the PBS passport.

That's a great member benefit that you get thousands of hours of public media that is at your fingertips.

Watch it on your phone, watch it on your app or your PBS television app or on your tablet or computer.

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The most important part is that you're actually giving in support of public media, so any dollar amount is certainly appreciated.

Now we're going to go meet and talk with the doc unit again.

And I want to remind you that storytelling is in our DNA.

This is what we've been doing for decades, for the 50 plus years that PBS has been around, WGCU has been around for over 40 years.

This is why we come to you.

And so with this new documentary unit, they are going to be adding to what we've already been doing this past year.

And I want to remind you, we did an anniversary show about Hurricane Ian.

We've done a small film short called The Face of Immokalee Art for Social Change.

And then we've also done a documentary called Dream School with Sandra Viktorova And really, these, that show actually is being distributed nationally.

That's why we do what we do.

It's not because we want to be national, it's because we believe in what we do.

And I know that the team that we're assembled excuse me, the team that we've assembled with Janine Zeitlin and Tom James and Susan Gard, they believe in the power of public media, and they're definitely invested in storytelling about Southwest Florida.

So I'm very excited to introduce them to you and Sandra Viktorova sat down with them one more time to talk about what they're planning on doing about Sanibel Island.

So the numbers on your screen go online to WGCU.org and thank you for your gift.

So we saw some of the Bailey family members in the Sanibel documentary and Janine, I know you've spent a lot of time there talking to to the newer family members.

Tell us about the legacy of this family.

So the Bailey family has been really critical to island history.

They came to Sanibel Island in the late 19th century and Frank Bailey and his family, they started the Sanibel Packing Company, which was essentially a place to store goods for for for farmers.

And that became over decades became the Baileys General store, which is iconic on the island.

It was really a hub of the island back then.

And up until the hurricane.

So, Tom, I know you've been out there on a regular basis.

You've had a chance to talk to some fascinating people and capture some interesting images.

Tell us about what you've done so far.

It's it's been amazing to be out there and to and to see this.

We we like to build relationships with the groups as we go.

And so we've talked with historians like Betty Ann Holt and we've talked with longtime residents like Deb Gleason and her brother, Mark McQuade, who grew up.

You know, Mark worked at the store growing up as a kid.

So it's interesting to see those come and then just some really rich characters like Ralph Woodring, who's just a very long time resident and a very colorful character as well.

And this is really the town center, right?

Yeah.

So important to the community.

Yeah, we we talk to folks and they you know, Sanibel doesn't really have a downtown, so Baileys has been there, their town square, essentially, You know, even early on it was where people, you know, they they got their mail from the ship and they would kind of tend to collect near near Baileys.

And that's where people got their news on the island because remember, at that time, you know, in the 1800s, it was Sanibel was not compact.

People were pretty spread out.

So they had to come to Baileys.

They had to come to the wharf to get their mail.

They had to come to Baileys to get their food.

So that was where they caught up on everything.

So, Susan, where are we on this project?

Well, we've wrapped principal photography, so we've finished talking to all the subjects and we've got some really amazing stories and spoken to some really great characters.

And so now we're just putting together all that unseen footage and those new perspectives and we're starting to cut the show together.

So we're really excited to show it to everybody.

Janine, what do you think is going to be unique as far as the storytelling goes on this?

Well, we're really spending time and digging deep into the history.

You know, I read books before these interviews.

I prepare for these interviews.

And so I know the history when I go into them.

And we spend, you know, more than 2 hours sometimes interviewing these folks.

And we really want to capture and preserve that history.

And that is unique to this unit.

Not a lot of news outlets, very few, if any, have the time locally to spend that that several hours to get the history.

Tom, why do you think these stories are so important to tell, to capture in this way?

You know, these are these are people some of them are their personal stories.

And it's it's part of the fabric of Sanibel, the history of Baileys.

General store really mirrors the history of of Sanibel through the hurricanes, through the families that have grown up through there.

And so what we can learn of Baileys General store, we learned about Sanibel Island.

And if we don't tell these stories now, right, they can be lost.

I mean, today, how many things I learned in this short time that I just didn't know about Southwest Florida?

Yeah.

And that's what we hope to do with the Updating the Untold Stories brand, because we're really capturing history at a really pivotal instrumental kind of turning point in our history now after Hurricane Ian.

So we want to be there to reflect that.

So people ten years, 20 years, 30 years from now can see where we were.

Susan, why is it so important to support this team if we don't documented, no one else will.

I mean, these are people who have been there for, you know, families that have been there for 100 years.

And their stories are all within their own families.

So they're not written down anywhere.

And if nobody else captures it, then there's going to be lost.

And that would just be a shame.

And we hope you'll support this team and history in southwest Florida by calling the number on your screen.

We are so excited to see what the documentary unit will be producing for us over the next several years.

And it really is important to have another partner involved in this development of the content that you watch every single day.

And that's you.

That's why we come to you periodically to ask for your support for public media.

Right now here in Southwest Florida, the number is on your screen or you can go online to WGCU.org or use the QR code and make a safe and secure donation.

And we do have suggested levels that I'd like you to consider.

Consider $5 a month as a WGCU Sustainer and you'll get the great member benefit of PBS passport, thousands of hours of PBS programs and local programs at your fingertips.

Consider also $10 a month as a WGCU Sustainer, and we'll send you this Heather Blue multi unisex T-shirt that's got the old PBS logo on it.

How fabulous to have something like that that reminisces from the 1970s or consider at $20 a month as a WGCU Sustainer or $240 annually, you will get the 15 ounce coffee mug that's microwavable, plus the three DVDs of the programs that you're watching tonight.

You've got PBS, you've got the Pine Island, you've got Sanibel, and you've got Fort Myers Beach.

What a great way to hold onto this heritage, but then also be a part of what's happening for the future.

Give a call on on the number on the screen or go online to WGCU.org and make a gift to support right now.

And thank you so much.

Did you know that Sanibel Islands first mansion was a riverboat?

The story of this unique estate begins with luxury and wealth and ends in tragedy.

This is the story of the Algiers in 1958, Northeast millionaires Lathrop and Helen Brown bought property on Sanibel.

They took an unconventional approach to building their beachside home by using the shell of a decommissioned car ferry.

The ferry boat was towed 450 miles from New Orleans to Fort Myers and underwent a yearlong renovation, turning it into a five bed and six and a half bath home during that time, the Browns revealed they were as generous as they were wealthy from arranging an on call helicopter for the architect to offering a Picasso to the engineer.

The 100 foot channel was dug from the Gulf onto the island to get the boat into its final resting place, making the installation an extraordinary feat of engineering and an unparalleled build.

Tragedy struck in 1959, a mere seven months after the House was completed.

When Mr. Brown suddenly passed away, Mrs. Brown left the island and never returned.

Left to decay, the Algiers met its end in 1982, when it was bought and then destroyed by the city of Sanibel.

Gulf Side City Beach Park is now located where the riverboat once stood tall.

For more on this and other untold stories, follow WGCU public media.

What a fun story.

So, Susan, why did you decide to look deeper into the story?

Well, it was actually a completely organic situation that just happened.

I was looking through archival footage and I found a ton of photos of the boat being installed into the property and then also it being destroyed.

And I was like, I don't understand what happened here.

So I started looking into historical societies on the Internet and it was all over the place.

There was so much information, but it was all in a bunch of different places.

So I was like, you know, I think we need to put this all in one location.

So we decided to put the video together and then the corresponding web story which is on WGCU.org.

And it was just a really interesting story that we decided to tell.

And there's so many more stories for you to tell, Right?

Video we've never seen before.

Absolutely.

Yes.

So we're going to be telling more about that in our feature stories.

We look forward to it.

And if you look forward to it, we hope you'll take a moment to call that number on the screen or go to WGCU.org I want to thank you.

If you've taken the time to give your gift of support during our marathon, of all three of our untold stories of Pine Island, Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach.

If not, I really would like to urge you to consider to invest in the power of the storytelling that you really count on with WGCU and I don't say that lightly.

We are asking for your support because we cannot do this without you.

You have the stories, but you also have the financial wherewithal to give.

And if you don't.

Don't worry about it.

Let someone else do that.

If you have the capability of doing twice as much as what you would normally do, please consider doing so.

Right now, we are so thrilled to be able to bring you the content, the old history, as well as the new history that we're developing right now with our documentary unit.

You have played a major part of that and we thank you so very much for your support.

Again, the numbers on your screen go online to WGCU.org.

Any gift of support is appreciated.

Thank you so much and have a great afternoon.

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