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Welcome
to Sanibel and Captiva Islands
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ISLAND
HISTORY
The old post office is a historical
landmark. |
Dating
back as far as 2500 years, the Calusa Indian tribe was the first to
inhabit the island known today as Sanibel. Although their population
numbered approximately 200, these artistic craftsmen were fierce warriors,
and possessive of their territory. Also skilled builders, they perched
their huts atop shell mounds, which provided protection during storm
tides. Some of the shell mounds, which were also used for ritual and
burial sites, remain intact today even though they are overgrown by
vegetation.
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Famous
explorer, Juan Ponce deLeon, may have landed on Sanibel in 1513 while
searching for "a spring of eternal youth." He and his Spanish explorers
battled the Calusas for years before pulling out. He returned years
later only to be killed. Several years later, Menendez de Aviles landed
on the island, determined to convert the tribe to Christianity. In
rebellion, the Calusas burnt the village and fled. Only after Aviles
sailed away forever, in the late 1600's, did the Calusas return to
the island. Soon thereafter, Spanish and Cuban infiltration introduced
disease and slavery to Sanibel. Overcome by yellow fever, tuberculosis
and measles, the Calusa Indian Tribe died out by the end of the 1700's.
After the Calusa dissipation, Sanibel became a haven for the lawless.
Even pirates were rumored to have been among the vagabonds and smugglers.
With American travelers at risk in this region, President Monroe deployed
the U.S. Navy to claim ownership of Florida from Spain in 1819. |
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1831, a group of New York City investors purchased the island, and
in 1833, they arrived to found a town known as "Sanybel." The town
never prospered, and the Second Seminole War discouraged subsequent
settlements. Even though Florida became the 27th state in March of
1845, when it pulled from the Union in 1861, Sanibel was deserted
again. Finally, in 1870, the U.S. Government ruled that Sanibel would
become a lighthouse reservation and, in 1884, a kerosene lighthouse
was built, which remains standing today. Then, in the late 1880's,
when the homestead rules were lifted, settlers arrived. |
The Sanibel Causeway as it looks today. |
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most recent settlers were ambitious and planted grapefruit, watermelon
and vegetable farms. There was even a coconut plantation on Captiva.
The export of island crops proved to be lucrative, but a series of
storms beginning with 1910's "worst in island history," steadily wiped-out
the farming industry by 1926. Lured by tales of world-renown sea shelling,
a steady stream of wealthy visitors began to flow in by ferry after
1928. Tourism had begun, and people continued to arrive by boat until
the bridge was built in 1963. |
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