>>This program is brough to you in part by the Paul B. Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation a proud partner of WUCF and the Central Florid community.

>>On this edition of Florid Road Trip, we explore a county where Calusa artifacts, cattle trails, citrus groves, and coastal dreams all share the same map.

The past is as wild as its landscape.

>>Seminoles, especially in the mid 1800s as they were moving around and being pushed around by the Seminole Wars, stopped here and would camp here.

>>Plus, discover ho a tropical paradise got its name thanks to a little creativit and a lot of clever marketing.

>>A more appropriate name for this area would have been something lik Mosquitoville or Alligatorburg, because that's what you have here.

But you're not going to get people to invest in.

You'r not going to get people to visit if you have names like that.

>>We'l also visit a coastal community where archeologists uncovered a rare wooden artifact that changed what we know about Florida's earliest residents.

>>Th height of the archaic village on Marco Island was happening the same time that Egyptians were learning to write on papyrus.

>>And we'll go inside a five star laundry facility.

Well, at least by 1920s Everglades standards.

>>Just leave your dres and your suit outside your room.

We'l bring them down to the cleaners, and they'll be ready in time for dinner tomorrow.

>>From gopher tortoises t giraffes, pineapples to pythons, you'll never know what you'll stumble across when history and the wild collide.

[MONKEY HOWLS] Buckle up.

Florida Road Trip is back on the roa and rolling into Collier County.

♪♪ Hi there, and thanks for joining us for Florida Road Trip, I'm Scott Fais.

Welcome to Collier County where the past is preserved through palmettos canals, citrus and Calusa mounds.

In our next half hour together, we'll travel through Everglades City, Immokalee, Naples and Marco Island, all to uncover stories of the past that you may not know.

And soon you won't forget.

Our journey begins inland in Immokalee.

Tucked away in Collier County's northeast corner, Immokalee's history is rooted in Seminole tradition and agriculture, far different than the coastal settlements.

The name Immokalee comes from the Seminole word, meaning my home.

During the Seminole Wars of the mid 1800s, this high ground served as a refug where Seminole families camped.

Immokalee was very significant to Florida's early settlement and history.

Seminoles, especially in the mid 1800s as they were moving around and being pushed around by the Seminole Wars, stopped here and would camp here.

After the Civil War ended, there were people coming through, pushing down with the Homestead Act and things to settle the land here.

>>The Seminole people and early settlers recognized the lands promise.

Immokalee became one of the first areas in today's Collier Count to see a permanent settlement.

>>I think people came here because the Seminoles knew it was good land in the 1800s, and settlers coming from up north saw that it was good land, high ground.

So we're going to be safe from hurricanes here.

And we're one of the highest natural points in Collier County.

There were gopher tortoises here, deer, open range for people to herd their cattle and hunt cattle on.

>>Immokalee grew into a small but vital ranching and farming hub.

Cattle roam the ope range and citrus groves thrived.

Locals say oranges grew right here for hundreds of years.

Even today, Immokale remains the agricultural heart of Collier County.

Its farms and fields fee much of the nation each winter.

This quiet towns pioneer spirit gave early settlers a home on the Florida frontier.

>>Now w head to the southwest Gulf Coast for a different chapter of Collier County's history.

Naples.

Unlike Immokalee's frontier beginnings, Naples was always envisioned to be a vacation paradise, attracting winter residents and tourists alike.

In the 1880s, this area was remote.

The closest town was Fort Myers to the north, and the nearest cit on Florida's west coast was Key West to the south, more than 100 miles across the Gulf away.

Still a group of northern businessmen saw potential in the beaches and fishing right here.

>>The legend initially is, is that Naples itself, there was an unnamed surveyor standing out there by Naples Bay, and he's looking and he says, oh, this reminds me the Bay of Naples in Italy.

And it looks nothin like the Bay of Naples, Italy.

Beautiful there.

You've got mountains on either side.

They have date palms.

We have palmettos.

But you can see people comparing that beauty there.

But really it's about advertising, you know, a more appropriate name for this area would have been something lik mosquitoville or alligatorburg, because that's what you had here.

But you're not going to get people to invest and you'r not going to get people to visit if you have names like that.

There's almost this new renaissance going on in the 1800s.

So people are intereste in the ancient classical world.

And so people are naming towns and places throughout the United States after these ancient cities.

>>When you have people starting to come to visit Naples, especially, that was a very big, hub for tourism for Collier County with the start of the Naples Town Improvement Company and then their efforts to build a resort community.

A lot of those people who are coming here are those adventurer types.

>>Those adventurers came for sport.

Naples quickly became famous for its incredible fishing and hunting, and what was then a subtropical frontier.

By 1888, Hotel Naples was complete.

Visitors arrived by boat and rail to enjoy the mild winter climate, Tarpon fishing and bird hunting, especially wild turkey.

>>We have Osceola, Turkey here in Florida.

They were so abundant here that it was actually selected as our county seal.

So when you look at Collier County's official seal, not our logo with like the fancy little palm tree and looks like a beach.

But when you look at the county's official seal on government documents, it is a Osceola Turkey.

>>In the 1920s, Barron Collier helped bring even more growth when he invested in the area.

By mid-century, Naples solidifies its reputation as a Florida Paradise, known for its upscale yet laidback lifestyle.

Next, we journe to Marco Island, where history runs deeper than any other place in Collier County.

Literally.

>>It's actually the earliest site in the southeast that shows year round coastal occupancy.

To give you a perspective, the height of the archaic village on Marco Island was happening the same time that Egyptians were learning to write on papyrus.

So it's just really crazy to think about.

>>Marco Island was one of the earliest known permanent settlements on Florida's west coast.

The Calusa established villages here and engineered canal and use tools made from shells.

One of the earliest discoverie from the Calusa era is the Key Marco Cat.

>>The Key Marc cat artifact was found in 1896 as part of an archeological dig on the north part of the island.

It was found in part because W.T.

and Betty Collier and later the son Captain Bill Collier, were digging in the muck and using that to enrich the soil for their vegetable garden.

The cat is this great sort of find in that it's this wood piec that you normally wouldn't get.

We know from the history of the Calusa, from what the Spanish put down, that this was likely a ceremonial piece.

It's also just beautifully carved.

It's an artistic piece.

And when you see something that artistic, that meant someone had tim to sit there and learn a craft and hone a skill and create this beautiful object, and didn't have to worry about going fishing or picking food or anything like that.

So it's also the sign of a civilization.

Centuries later, pineapple became king.

Well, at least for a while.

>>In the early 1890s, we had our first pineapple farmer, and his name was Frederick Ludlow, and he was the first to do large scale pineapple production.

And by 1910 he was actually exporting about 50,000 crates of pineapples a year.

The hurricane of 1910, which was a major hurricane and a direct hit to Marco Island, completely salted the Earth and led to the end of the pineapple industry on our islands.

>>The collapse of the crops led to a rise in clams.

The clam factories became th largest industry on the island for about 40 years.

In the 1920s, Barron Collier brought his name and his fortune to Southwest Florida.

He financed the Tamiami Trail, building a road through the Everglades and opening the region to development.

Decades later, his heirs partnered with the Mackle brothers to complete his vision.

>>They were well trusted.

We've got to remember Florida has gone through this boom bust cycle with land so much, and you had swamp peddlers.

You have people who were "selling lan by the gallon" that whole joke.

The Mackles were known for doing what they say they were going to do, and for developing an actual community, not just laying down a grid and saying, here's a lot, but bringing in utilities, looking at where shopping centers were going to be.

The Collier family, the son and the grandkids bring the Mackles in, and they work with them in the Deltona Corporation.

And so what you see today as Marco Island is a result of that business partnership.

And the Mackle brothers developing the island.

>>Although Everglades City may be small in size, the community played a large rol in the story of Collier County.

>>Even people who are residents of Collier County are surprised to discover that this was the original county seat that our neoclassical style city hall building was the county courthouse.

>>It all began with one man, Barron Collier.

He dreamt of a road stretching across the Florida Everglades and a county all his own.

>>Barron Collier had this very successful business bringing tourists in, but it was also at the exact same time that the automobile is being popularized.

And Florida's promoting itself as a destination you can and should drive to.

You could not drive to Everglades City.

They need a road.

Collier knew a lot of influential people, but he was unable to convince anybody that they needed to spend taxpayer money building this road.

Most people thought it couldn't be done.

He ultimately offers to put up the money to to secure the bonds to build the trail.

But in exchange for that what he wants is a large portion of his million acres of property that he owns, being named Collier County.

The Florida State Legislature and the governor signed away, and Collier County was born.

>>Everglades City became his base of operation during the construction of the Tamiami Trail and his model town.

Collier invested in building railroad lines, dredging channels, and expanding what is now the iconic Rod & Gun Club.

It became known as a five sta luxury hotel, Everglades style.

>>And that's the kind of top notch hospitality that Collier wanted to be known for.

And it really built this town.

>>The county seat stayed in Everglades City until after Hurricane Donna hit the area.

>>When Hurricane Donna hits Collier County areas in September of 1960.

It has winds of 160mph.

There was actually a report done after tha describe the impact of Hurricane Donna as being a hydrogen bomb blast every eight minutes.

So it had a lot of devastating effects on Collier County, especially in Everglades City.

>>Even so, Everglades City never lost its roots or its taste for seafood.

>>Everglades City is stone crab capital of the world.

If you haven't had stone crab it is a unique culinary treat.

Some of the original descriptions that I've found in newspapers in the previous century describe it as being a cross between crab and lobster.

>>And the story of the cit is still told inside a building where luxury guests once sent their linens.

>>The Museum of the Everglades was the Model Stea Laundry, was commercial laundry.

But you can imagine the hospitality that he's offering includes the fact that their waiter will say, sir, madam, just leave your dres and your suit outside your room.

We'l bring them down to the cleaners, and they'll be ready in time for dinner tomorrow.

>>Today, that former laundry facility is one of five free museums in Collier County, each dedicated to preservin a different piece of the past.

>>At the Museu of the Everglades, guests walk through more than 2,000 years of Glades history, from ancient people and pioneers to the arrival of the Tamiami Trail and th explosive growth that followed.

The Marco Island Historical Museum showcases the island's histor from the ancient Calusa people through the pioneer era to the modern development spearheaded by the Mackle brothers.

The Collier Museum and Government Center offers a deep exploration of regional history.

Featuring exhibits on prehistoric mastodons, pionee era tools, and outdoor displays such as a steam locomotive, swamp buggy, restored Naples cottage, and a recreated Seminole Village.

The Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch in Immokalee vividly brings the frontier to life, with exhibit like cattle pens and bunkhouses.

It also highlights the contributions of the Seminoles, Miccosukee, and migrant workers who were instrumental in building the community.

Each museum reveal a unique part of Collier County, and together they create an unforgettable journey through Florida's wild and storied past.

♪♪ The Naples Zoo is a modern day, professionally accredited facility with a wide variety of animals and lush landscaping that feature roots going back more than a century ago.

This was a botanical garden well before the big cats arrived.

>>We wouldn't be standing here toda without Doctor Henry Nehrling.

He was a botanist, an ornithologist that ha a garden up in central Florida.

That had a bad freeze in 1917.

He had moved out from Wisconsin and realized he hadn't moved far enough south.

He moved to Naples with his collection in 1919.

By 1925, he had over 3,000 species on site.

He formed the foundation that is the Botanical Garden.

>>After Dr.

Nehrling's passing, the site grew wild.

That's until philanthropist Julius Fleischman stepped in.

>>He dug the lakes, se the pathway that we still walk today, and opened to the public in 1954.

>>In 1969, the garden became home to something new.

[MONKEY HOWLS] That's when Jungle Larry and Safari Jane brought their animals and transformed the site into what's now a nationally accredited zoo.

>>Jungle Larry and Safari Jane, are my parents, Colone Lawrence and Nancy Jane Tetzlaf.

They brought the animals her in 1969 and basically converted what was a popular tourist attraction, similar to what you'd find in other parts of Florida.

The era of plants, parrots, that kind of experienc of that era of Florida tourism and introduced the larger charismatic megafauna.

>>And then when she kind of feels all... >>What makes Naples Zoo trul one of a kind is how it blends a historic landscap with a mission for conservation.

>>Everybody can always build something new.

You can't build old.

That makes us stand out.

But also because of that, we had to build where guest get very close to the wildlife.

That is a an added benefit of not just seeing them through glass, which many institutions do, but also a lot of the other areas people get to see the animals in a more intimate way.

>>Those unforgettable experiences are around every turn.

Like the Primate Expedition Cruise.

>>Primate Expedition Cruise have guided catamarans that take people on about a 15 to 20 minute cruise glide into the islands.

We have a few different specie of monkeys, lemurs and gibbons out on the islands for you to see in a natural habitat.

>>Another up-close encounter is the opportunity to feed a giraffe.

But beyond the guest experience, Naples Zoo is making a big global impact by supporting more than 20 conservation projects around the world.

>>Locally, we work with helping native wildlife, whether that's injured or orphaned Florida panthers that we take care of her and release back into the wild, or helping out other native wildlife by supporting the removal of invasive Burmese pythons that are in the greater Everglades ecosystem.

Globally we have a reach into Madagascar.

We serve a the international headquarters for the Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group.

We do restoration of natural habitats with replanting, protecting endangered lemur species and even the same thing we do with Burmese pythons here, supporting the removal of invasives that threaten the native wildlife.

[WATER SLOSHES] >>It's the kind of place that surprises peopl with its beauty and its reach.

>>It's a bit of a revelation to some people to know how by visiting here, they're actually helping conservation of animals around the world.

>>At Naples Zoo, conservation just isn't a mission.

It's a tradition rooted in every tree, every trail, and every animal interaction.

>>There you go.

>>From preserving wildlife to protecting ecosystems around the globe.

This place proves one visi can make a world of difference.

>>My father said it simply just the name of the game is conservation.

We have taken those foundations and conservation of nature.

We continue to see that into the future.

♪♪ >>When you think of Collier County, beaches, boating and bustling Naples may come to mind.

But just south of the city awaits one of Florida's greatest conservation success stories.

It's a place where history, scie >>The story actually begins in about 1964.

In the Naples area, that's a time of rapid development projects.

And what is proposed is a road that will go out to the coastal area and will go along a bay called Rookery Bay, which is actually a large bay of water.

>>The road would have to cut through untouched mangrove forests and coastal ecosystems, areas critical for wildlife.

>>One of the most prominent individuals was a gentleman by the name of Lester Norris.

And he was a very wealthy resident of Naples.

When he heard about this, he was immediately determined to respond and to stop it.

The road was defeated, but this group of prominent individuals and businessmen knew that this would not be the end of this particular topic.

They needed to work at wha a permanent solution would be.

And to that end, then a new group was formed and it was calle the Collier County Conservancy.

>>Their first mission?

Protect Rookery Bay.

>>Within two years, they were able to raise the fund and purchase the land to ensure that the Rookery Bay site would never be compromised.

There was a larger estuary out there that really should be protected from any future development.

>>At the time, Naples had no high rises, but this group made a plan to protect what couldn't be replaced.

They began a concentrated effort to continue fundraising, to continue purchasing land, and to put together a large wildlife sanctuary.

>>Then came the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972.

It was a national response to the decline of America's estuaries.

Collier County submitted a proposal and six years later the county made history.

>>Then in 1978, Rookery Bay became the third National Estuarine Research Reserve in the country, the first one in the state of Florida.

>>But Rookery Bay isn't just known for conservation victories.

Its history goes back thousands of years.

>>Artifacts that have been found have been carbon dated.

So we can say with confidence that we have artifacts that date back 3000 years.

But also recently, artifacts have been discovered that predate that almost to 6,000 years before the present time.

Throughout the reserve are large mounds and small mounds, and indications that the Calusa Indians were here residing in the coastal area.

>>Today, development avoids the wetlands of Rookery Bay, but modern threats linger when it comes to the water.

>>Th biggest threat to the estuary?

Initially it was the threat of development, and the development certainly has occurred outside our boundarie and our biggest threat remains water quality, the quality of the water that filters down into the estuary from the development that's around us.

The research at Rookery Ba has been a kind of a fundamental monitoring type of research, where we monitor to establish baseline as far as water quality fishing, sea turtle, bird use of our area and so forth.

By establishing a baseline.

It allows you to monitor for significant changes, and then doing it in coordination with partners allows you to coordinat and detect problem areas, detect the best practices to be using, to be upgrading your techniques to be using the best technology.

>>That includes everything from sea turtles and bird populations to invasive species like pythons and feral hogs.

And for visitors, the Environmental Learning Center brings the reserve to lif with experiences for all ages.

>>What's going to draw your eye first is our touch tank, what we call estuary encounte because it has the live animals which you can see up clos and you can make perhaps touch.

What we are attempting to do here at the Learning Center is to explain to people what an estuary is, and then to introduce them to some of the animals that call the estuary home, and then hopefully get them to have a little bit of understanding of them, especially with our invertebrate collection.

These are shells and animals that people see on the beach, but may not understand wha they are, where they come from.

We also have our aquarium tanks, which are meant to illustrate unique aquatic habitats that are found throughout the reserve.

All of the water in the reserve is not just one great big bathtub, just it's all the same.

It has unique habitats that have evolved based upon the animals that live there.

Outside, we have a waterwa that's known as Henderson Creek and a bridge that goes over it.

So our visitors can actually sometimes see very interesting creatures in the water.

You may see manatees.

You may see tarpon.

Last week it was jellyfish.

And then on the other side of the bridge is a loop trail that goes through a pine flatwoods and a mixed hardwood habitat, which is a typical vegetative habitat that you find throughout Florida.

>>Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is more than a protected place.

It's a living classroom, a refuge for wildlife, and an example of what a community can accomplish when it chooses to protect its future.

When we look at the ecosystems within our reserve, and we tend to focus a lot on the water and say, oh, it's all about the water, but we actually have maybe 12 different unique habitats found within our boundaries, and that is replicate throughout the state of Florida.

So when we look at our pin flatwoods or our scrub habitat, or our salt marshes or our freshwater marshes, we're more than just the water.

And in that sense, we're mirroring a lot of the rest of Florida.

So what we do in certain areas, whether it is the prescribed fire or invasive species removal, it's applicable to elsewhere in Florida, where you have the same habitat and the same challenges.

♪♪ >>That's going to wrap up our journey through the history of Collier County, proving that there's more to the past in Southwest Florida than meets the eye.

Thanks for joining us, I'm Scott Fais.

We'll see you down the road on the next edition of Florida Road Trip.

Until then, safe travels everyone.

♪♪ >>This program is brough to you in part by the Paul B. Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation, a proud partner of WUCF and th Central Florida community.