The Smallwood store was closed, so wandered around a bit looking out at the 10,000 islands and drove into the “Everglades National Park” information center and exhibit. They just opened and had some great alligator, turtle, and manatee skulls to grope and look over.

10,000 Islands “Everglades City with its 10,000 Islands, offers a gateway to explore the unique Mangrove habitat preserved by Everglades National Park. With an entangling web of umbrella-like roots anchored in shallow, brackish waters, clusters of mangrove trees form the Ten Thousand Islands. The mangroves create a rich and valuable preserve for endangered wildlife. Globally, mangrove habitats are as critical - and perhaps as threatened - as the world’s tropical rainforests. Everglades National Park preserves and protects 90% of all Mangroves in Florida. In the Ten Thousand Islands recreational activities abound. Bird watching is outstanding, especially in winter when migrants join the Everglades’ year-round species. Sport fishing and boat tours to view wildlife are popular activities.” ~ Interpretive display sign at Everglades National Park.

10,000 Islands

A People Now Gone

“Centuries before the first Europeans saw the Everglades, Calusa Indians dwelled inside the islands and waterways of the 10,000 Islands and lived with their tidal rhythms. The Calusa developed a complex social system and build impressive canals and earthworks. They piled shells into mounds, creating dry grounds amidst their otherwise watery environment. Most of the nearby Chokoloskee and Sandfly islands were originally Calusa shell mounds. But by the mid-1830’s no Calusa’s remained. Their demise is somewhat of a mystery, but the arrival of foreigners was ultimately the cause, bringing deadly new diseases and forcing Calusa relocation (both voluntary and involuntary). Three hundred years after the first Europeans arrived from Spain, the culture of South Florida’s original inhabitants were gone. Today, no aboriginal peoples remain in South Florida. Miccosukee and Seminole Indians arrived in the mid-1830’s; many now reside along the Tamiami Trail.” ~ Interpretive display at Everglades National Park.