The Estero Island Historic Society cottage is open to visitors on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon, October through May.

Estero Island Historic Society

Where the Past Comes Alive

The Estero Island Historic Society Museum and Nature Center are located in the Davison Cottage (seen above), built in 1921 on the beachfront, and now relocated to 161 Bay Road., Fort Myers Beach.

Join us on Saturdays in February and March, from 10 AM to 12 PM, for our Hurricane Exhibit and Murder Mysteries of FMB events.

Estero Island Historic Society

Presents

 

Join us for the final public meeting and presentation of spring 2025

 

Slaves To Citizens - The Freedmen's Bureau in Florida 1865-1872

Presented by Robert N. Macomber, Historian and Award-winning Author

 

Monday, March 10, 2025

2 p.m.

Fort Myers Beach Public Library, 3rd floor

 

Space is limited. Please click this link to register.

 

Join multi-award-winning author and internationally acclaimed lecturer Robert N. Macomber to learn about what happened to the 61,745 slaves in Florida at the end of the Civil War.

 

You'll hear about tremendous efforts by U.S. Army officers, church missionaries, and volunteer doctors to assimilate former slaves into society as productive citizens. You'll learn about what worked and what didn't, the special fact-finding mission to our coastal area of Southwest Florida, how some Floridians tried to thwart the effort, and the legacies of that turbulent time which echoed into the 1960s. This is a little-known but very important part of Florida's fascinating history.

Robert N. Macomber

Robert N. Macomber is a multi-award winning author, internationally acclaimed lecturer, former Dept. of Defense consultant, commentator for TV and film, adventurous expedition leader, and an accomplished seaman. He was named “2020 Florida Writer of the Year” by the FL Writers Association.

 

He is best known for the 17 novels comprising his “Honor Series”, the popular maritime thrillers that describe the life and career of his protagonist, a U.S. naval officer, Peter Wake, from the American Civil War in Florida, beyond the Spanish-American War in 1898, and well into the 1900s with Wake’s legacy stretching for generations. 

Preserving Our History

The Estero Island Historic Society (EIHS) museum is dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of our island. Although we lost many archives and artifacts during Hurricane Ian in September 2022, the EIHS has reopened with exhibits that portray the evolution of Fort Myers Beach from a Calusa settlement to a fishing village to a tourist destination.

Teaching Others About Our History

Our docents offer free tours of the EIHS museum to visitors, currently on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. The tours lead the visitors through the 100+ years of our island's modern history and thousands of years of pre-settler history. The EIHS also works with Beach Elementary School and Florida Gulf Coast University by offering presentations on our local history to interested students and teachers. In the past, the EIHS has offered boat tours and trolley tours highlighting the historic sites on the island, which we plan to revive. Public meetings from January through April each year bring in speakers who give presentations on local and regional history and ecology.

Enjoying and Preserving our Environment

The Matanzas Pass Preserve is located next to the EIHS museum. This 60-acre preserve is one of the few undeveloped, protected areas on the island. This natural treasure offers visitors an opportunity to experience the island as it was before it became a popular beach resort. Matanzas Pass Preserve has 1.25 miles of trails through four different natural plant communities: maritime hammock, tidal swamp, Black Mangrove Forest, and coastal grassland.

MEMBERSHIP NOTICE

The EIHS lost many records in Hurricane Ian, so we are rebuilding and updating our membership list. If you are an EIHS member, we are very grateful for your support!

 

Starting in Fall 2022, we have sent quarterly newsletters to everyone who was an EIHS member prior to the hurricane. Many of these newsletters were returned with no forwarding address, and after three letters were returned, we removed that address from our mailing list. If you were previously a member and have changed address, please let the EIHS know by filling out the contact form below.

 

Members who received a newsletter in summer 2024 can see their membership status, according to our records. Lifetime members do not need to take any action to retain their membership. If your membership has expired, the EIHS encourages you to renew it. To do this, simply click on this link and you will be directed to our Shopify store, where you can renew your membership.

Share by: