Coconuts and Coquinas

Jean Gottlieb wrote this “history with a twist” in 1999. She based her text on her own experiences living on Fort Myers Beach in the 1950s as well as interviewing some of the residents who created this history. These are the intrepid souls who came to this barrier island on Florida’s Gulf coast between 1920 and 1970. They describe, in their own words, what it was like to live here back in the day.
Jean Gottlieb recorded these stories and wove them together into this book. In the text, you will read the words of these early settlers who speak lovingly and nostalgically about they island in its early days. In this book, we take a look at the past as a reminder of what our island has always been, and will be again, a tropical paradise with an island ambience that must be preserved as we rebuild.