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Estero and the Koreshan State Historic Site

Estero is a community in Lee County, Florida. With slightly more than 18,000 residents, it provides the amenities of a small city yet has a fascinating history that lives on into the current day in the form of the Koreshan State Historic Site, easily accessed from Estero vacation homes.

The Koreshan Unity

Estero was begun as a community in 1894 by the Koreshan Unity, a religious group with unusual ideas about the cosmos. The group persisted into the 1960s when the last followers deeded their Estero lands and community meeting house to the state of Florida, which has preserved them as the Koreshan State Historic Site. This is one of the most fascinating places to visit in Estero.

Details of the Historic Site

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the headquarters of the Koreshan Unity contains an interesting array of plant species collected from around the globe. Visitors can see sausage trees from Africa and imagine giraffes dining on their leaves as well as a monkey puzzle tree, which produces seed pods roughly the size of a football. There is also bamboo from Japan and a variety of fruit-bearing and flowering trees.

The wildlife species in the park are equally diverse. American alligators live alongside gopher tortoises and gray foxes, while North American River Otters and bobcats compete for habitat. Birds at the site include bald eagles, bobwhites, and red-shouldered hawks.

Things to do at the historic site include boating, canoeing, hiking, fishing. Canoe rentals are available; the beach faces the Gulf of Mexico.