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52-540: Chokoloskee was inhabited by Native Americans for at least 1500 years before European explorers first recorded visiting the island. It was briefly visited by Seminoles and the United States Army in the 1800s, and the current settlement can be traced back to 1874. Today, the isolated community's economy is largely based on boating and recreational boat fishing in the Ten Thousand Islands and

104-492: A general store which housed the post office . He remained postmaster until he retired in 1941. His daughter succeeded him as postmaster. Ted Smallwood died in 1951, but his daughters kept the store open until 1982. Ted Smallwood's store was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. His granddaughter has opened the store as a museum. The Ten Thousand Islands country, including Chokoloskee, had

156-751: A giant tortoise was cooked in its shell at Little Salt Spring dates to between 12,000 and 13,500 years ago. Human remains and artifacts have also been found in association with remains of Pleistocene animals at Devil's Den , Melbourne , Warm Mineral Springs , and the Cutler Fossil Site . A Bison antiquus skull with an embedded projectile point has been found in the Wacissa River . Other important Paleoindian sites in Florida include Harney Flats in Hillsborough County ,

208-563: A brief standoff, killed him. The sheriff did come down to Chokoloskee after that, and took a number of Chokoloskee residents back to Fort Myers for a court session, but nothing came of it. Edgar Watson was buried in Fort Myers cemetery. Peter Matthiessen fictionalized the story in his Watson trilogy ( Killing Mister Watson , Lost Man's River , Bone by Bone ) and retold the "Watson Legend" in Shadow Country . Matthiessen inspired

260-529: A female householder with no husband present, and 24.0% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.53. In the CDP, the age distribution of the population shows 16.3% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 21.8% from 25 to 44, 32.2% from 45 to 64, and 24.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

312-467: A lack of fresh water on the island. The modern settlement of Chokoloskee Island started in 1874. The first family to settle was the family of John Weeks. The second family on the island was that of Adolphus Santini, who was soon joined by his brother and his parents. By around 1880 the Santini family held claim to most of the island. In 1882 there were five families living on the island, including those of

364-580: A man named Cox and someone identified only as "the Nigger" allegedly killed an old woman named Hannah Smith and a man named Walker at the Watson place. When Watson and Melvin returned, Cox and "the Nigger" allegedly killed Melvin as well. Hannah Smith's body was later found in the Chatham Bend River by some settlers and given a burial. About this time, on October 17, 1910, a major hurricane struck

416-561: A projectile point with pitch and sinew. The other end was pointed, and pressure-fitted into a wood shaft. The foreshafts were made from mammoth ivory, or possibly, in some cases, from mastodon ivory. A shell "trigger" may be from an atlatl (spear-thrower). Other tools include an eyed needle made from bone, double pointed bone pins, part of a mortar carved from an oak log, and a non-returning boomerang or throwing stick made from oak. The Archaic period in Florida lasted from 7500 or 7000 BCE until about 500 BCE. Bullen divided this period into

468-651: A reputation as being a refuge for outlaws . The Ed Watson story, as related by Ted Smallwood, is the best known example of that. Edgar Watson, a native of Ridge Springs , in the Saluda Division of Edgefield District, South Carolina, showed up in the Chokoloskee Bay country in the early 1880s. He had supposedly gotten into trouble in Columbia County in northern Florida, to which his parents had migrated sometime after 1870, and had then gone out to

520-511: A resident physician . C.G. McKinney provided most of the medical care on the island for 50 years. He was registered with the State Board of Health as a midwife , treated injuries and illnesses, and extracted teeth. His dental care was supplemented by the occasional visit of an itinerant dentist. Indigenous peoples of Florida The Indigenous peoples of Florida lived in what is now known as Florida for more than 12,000 years before

572-503: Is another part of this neck of the woods beside Everglade. Everglade is a small place beside Chokoloskee. We have two business houses... we have ten families living here." Starting in 1896 Ted Smallwood carried the mail by sailboat between Chokoloskee and Marco Island via Everglades [City]. In 1897 he married and settled down on Chokoloskee Island. He hunted alligators , cut buttonwood (for charcoal ), fished, and raised tomatoes . In 1906 he became postmaster for Chokoloskee and opened

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624-476: Is due to the shell mounds built on the island during more than 2,000 years of occupation by Native Americans of the Ten Thousand Islands district of the Glades culture . As of the 2020 United States census , there were 346 people, 155 households, and 106 families residing in the CDP. As of the census of 2000, there were 404 people, 183 households, and 139 families residing in the CDP. The population density

676-511: Is today's Florida. The few water sources in the interior of Florida were rain-fed lakes and water holes over relatively impervious deposits of marl , or deep sinkholes partially filled by springs. With water available only at scattered locations, animals and humans would have congregated at the water holes to drink. The concentration of animals would have attracted hunters. Many Paleoindian artifacts and animal bones showing butchering marks have been found in Florida rivers, where deep sinkholes in

728-574: The Nalcrest site, and Silver Springs . Florida's environment at the end of the Pleistocene was very different from that of today. Because of the enormous amount of water frozen in ice sheets during the last glacial period , sea level was at least 100 metres (330 ft) lower than now. Florida had about twice the land area. Its water table was much lower and the climate was cooler and much drier. There were few running rivers or springs in what

780-538: The Tamiami Trail was completed and connected to Everglades City in the late 1920s. C.G. McKinney had moved to Chokoloskee in 1886. He had opened a small store soon afterwards and had been instrumental in getting the post office for Chokoloskee. In 1912 McKinney wrote a complaint about how Chokoloskee was being ignored. He was insulted that two recent letters to him had been addressed to "Everglade" (Everglades City). He wrote, "Now I wish folks could learn that there

832-605: The Ten Thousand Islands ) each had as yet unnamed late Archaic regional cultures using ceramics. Pre-historic sites and cultures in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada that followed the Archaic period are generally placed in the Woodland period (1000 BCE – 1000 CE) or the later Mississippian culture period (800 or 900–1500). The Woodland period is defined by the development of technology, including

884-566: The poverty line , including 3.7% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over. Chokoloskee Island was inhabited by the indigenous Calusa and their ancestors for more than 1,500 years before European explorers reached the area. By the time Spain transferred Florida to Great Britain in 1763, the area was uninhabited. During the first three-quarters of the 19th century, Chokoloskee Island may have been occasionally visited by Seminoles , white hunters, "Spanish Indian" fishermen from Cuba and various "refugees from justice". Chokoloskee

936-576: The river bed would have provided access to water. Sites with Paleoindian artifacts also have been found in flooded river valleys as much as 17 feet (5.2 m) under the Gulf of Mexico , and suspected sites have been identified up to 20 miles (32 km) offshore under 38 feet (12 m) of water. Half of the Paleoindian sites in Florida may now be under water in the Gulf of Mexico. Materials deposited in

988-578: The 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. During the initial period of Spanish colonization, groups of conquistadors came into conflict with Florida Indians, which combined with Spanish-introduced diseases devastated their population. In the 17th and 18th centuries, English colonists from the Province of Carolina and the Indian allies carried out several raids against the Spanish mission system, further devastating

1040-529: The Bolen point being the most commonly found. Most projectile points associated with early Paleoindians have been found in rivers. Projectile points of the late Paleoindian period, particularly Bolen points, are often found on dry land sites, as well as in rivers. Paleoindians in Florida used a large variety of stone tools besides projectile points. These tools include blades, scrapers of various kinds, spokeshaves , gravers , gouges , and bola stones . Some of

1092-512: The Dalton Late, Early Pre-ceramic Archaic, Middle Pre-ceramic Archaic, Late Pre-ceramic Archaic, Orange and Florida Transitional periods. Purdy divided it into a Preceramic Archaic period and an Early Ceramic period. Milanich refers to Early (7500-5000 BCE), Middle (5000-3000 BCE) and Late (3000-500 BCE) Archaic periods in Florida. Several cultures become distinguishable in Florida in the middle to late Archaic period . In northeast Florida,

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1144-528: The Decemberists to retell the story as "E. Watson" on their EP Long Live the King . Florida based swamp rock & blues band MOFRO relates some of the story in a song titled "Ten Thousand Islands" from the album Lochloosa . As a small, isolated community, Chokoloskee did not support a continuously operating school or church. A small school building was erected, and teachers were sent on occasion, but

1196-636: The Indian territory (later known as the Oklahoma Territory ) where he allegedly killed Belle Starr , herself allegedly an outlaw. He then returned to Florida and killed a man in Arcadia , apparently in self-defense. After that Ed Watson moved to the Ten Thousand Islands area, then part of Monroe County, where he bought a claim on the Chatham Bend River and began raising vegetables. On a trip to Key West, Watson got into an argument with Adolphus Santini and tried to cut his throat. Santini survived, but

1248-462: The area. Ed Watson went to Fort Myers during the hurricane and tried to bring the sheriff back afterwards to arrest Cox, but the Lee County sheriff would not go out of his jurisdiction past Marco . Watson then bought some shells at Ted Smallwood's store and said he was going back to his place to kill Cox. When Watson returned to Chokoloskee a few days later a crowd met him at the landing and, after

1300-542: The beginning of the Paleoindian period in Florida to an earlier date. The earliest well-dated material from the Paleoindian period in Florida is from the Page-Ladson site, where points resembling pre-Clovis points found at Cactus Hill have been recovered from deposits dated to 14,588 to 14,245 calibrated calendar years BP (12638-12295 BCE), about 1,500 years before the appearance of the Clovis culture . Milanich places

1352-570: The bow and arrow did not appear until much later) have distinctive forms that can be fairly reliably assigned to specific time periods. Based on stone artifacts, Bullen divided pre-Archaic Florida into four periods, Early Paleo-Indian (10000-9000 BCE ), Late Paleo-Indian (9000-8000 BCE), Dalton Early (8000-7000 BCE), and Dalton Late (7000-6000 BCE). Purdy defined a simpler sequence, Paleo Indian (10000-8000 BCE, equivalent to Bullen's Early and Late Paleo-Indian) and Late Paleo (8000-7000 BCE, equivalent to Bullen's Dalton Early). Later discoveries have pushed

1404-547: The deaths of two men. Watson returned to the Chatham Bend area and began making syrup from sugar cane . According to legend, Watson would "pay" his African-American and Native American help by killing them on payday. Soon Watson had several people living at his place, including a man named Dutchy Melvin, who is said to have "killed a policeman and burned a factory or two." While Watson and Melvin were in Chokoloskee,

1456-633: The end of the Archaic period. Ceramics appeared along the coast of the southeastern United States soon after. Agriculture spread and intensified across the Woodland area throughout the Woodland and Mississippian culture periods but appeared in north central and northeastern Florida only after about 700 and had not penetrated the middle and lower Florida peninsula at the time of first contact with Europeans. European colonists encountered numerous groups of indigenous peoples in Florida. Recorded information on various groups ranges from numerous detailed reports to

1508-540: The end of the Paleoindian period at about 7500 BCE. During the early Paleoindian period in Florida, before 10,000 years ago, projectile points used in Florida included Beaver Lake , Clovis, Folsom-like , Simpson , Suwannee , Tallahassee , and Santa Fe points. Simpson and Suwannee points are the most common early Paleoindian points found in Florida. In the late Paleoindian period, 9,000 to 10,000 years ago (8000-7000 BCE), Bolen , Greenbriar , Hardaway Side-Notched , Nuckolls Dalton and Marianna points were in use, with

1560-517: The extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna . Human remains and/or artifacts have been found in association with the remains of Pleistocene animals at a number of Florida locations. A carved bone depicting a mammoth found near the site of Vero man has been dated to 13,000 to 20,000 years ago. Artifacts recovered at the Page-Ladson site date to 12,500 to 14,500 years ago. Evidence that

1612-576: The highway reached Everglades City, it came by boat from there until the causeway to Chokoloskee Island was completed in 1956. Because of the uncertainty of the mail boat schedule, a conch shell would be blown to alert the islanders that the mail had arrived. Chokoloskee Island was quite isolated. At first it was in Monroe County , with the county seat in Key West, 90 miles (140 km) away by boat and inaccessible by land. In 1887, Lee County

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1664-526: The incident cost Watson $ 900. After that Watson bought a claim on the Lost Man's River, also in Monroe County. A man named Tucker soon squatted on the claim and would not leave. Eventually Tucker and his nephew were found murdered, and suspicion fell on Watson. After that Watson went back to Fort White , Columbia County. While there he again became involved with bad company, and came under suspicion in

1716-463: The indigenous population of Florida. The few survivors migrated out of Florida, mainly to Cuba and New Spain with the Spanish when they ceded Florida to Great Britain in 1763 following the Seven Years' War, although a few Apalachee reached Louisiana , where their descendants still live. This section includes the names of tribes, chiefdoms and towns encountered by Europeans in what is now

1768-406: The introduction of ceramics and (late in the Woodland period) the bow and arrow, the adoption of agriculture , mound -building, and increased sedentism . These characteristics developed and spread separately. Sedentism and mound building appeared along the southwest coast of Florida (cf. Horr's Island ) and in the lower Mississippi River Valley (cf. Watson Brake and Poverty Point ) well before

1820-512: The island, including the Santini brothers. In 1899, the Santinis left and sold their claims to Smallwood, who became the major landholder on the island. Chokoloskee had acquired a post office in 1891, at first called Comfort, but changed to Chokoloskee within a year. At first, mail for Chokoloskee came by boat from Key West, then as the railroads extended down the Florida peninsula, the mail came from Punta Gorda and later from Fort Myers . After

1872-428: The island. Protestant preachers also visited the island, and a small mission church was built. One week in 1915 there were two preachers on the island, with competing revival meetings every night. The Chokoloskee Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) was founded in 1913 and is the third oldest church in Chokoloskee. Except for a "Doctor" S.L. Greene who lived there for a few months, Chokoloskee Island never had

1924-764: The late Pleistocene and early Holocene in sinkholes in the beds of rivers were covered by silt and sealed in place before the water table rose high enough to create running rivers, and those layers remained undisturbed until excavated by archaeologists. These deposits preserved organic materials, including bone, ivory, wood, and other plant remains. Archaeologists have found direct evidence that Paleoindians in Florida hunted mammoths , mastodons , Bison antiquus , and giant tortoises . The bones of other large and small animals, including ground sloths , tapirs , horses, camelids , deer, fish, turtles, shellfish, snakes, raccoons, opossums, and muskrats are associated with Paleoindian sites. Organic materials are not well preserved in

1976-416: The mainland of Collier County. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by the northern end of the Ten Thousand Islands . Chokoloskee Island is connected to Everglades City on the mainland by a causeway. The land around Chokoloskee Bay, both on the mainland and the islands, is very low-lying. Chokoloskee Island is an exception, as it reaches a high point of 20 feet (6.1 m) above sea level. This height

2028-571: The mere mention of a name. Some of the indigenous peoples were taken into the system of Spanish missions in Florida , others had sporadic contact with the Spanish without being brought into the mission system, but many of the peoples are known only from mention of their names in historical accounts. All of these peoples were essentially extinct in Florida by the end of the 18th century. Most died from exposure to Eurasian infectious diseases , such as smallpox and measles , to which they had no immunity; others died from conflict with European colonists in

2080-598: The nearby Gulf of Mexico and ecotourism to nearby Everglades National Park . According to the United States Census Bureau , the CDP has a total area of 0.23 square miles (0.6 km), all land. Chokoloskee is located on Chokoloskee Island, which is opposite the mouth of the Turner River near the southeastern end of Chokoloskee Bay. The bay is about 10 miles (16 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide, and runs southeast to northwest along

2132-559: The new Seminole ethnicity . Groups known to have been in Florida in the latter half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century include: A series of wars with the United States resulted in the death or removal to what is now Oklahoma of most of the above peoples and the merging of the remainder by ethnogenesis into the current Seminole and Miccosukee tribes of Florida . The only federally recognized tribes in Florida are: The Seminole nation emerged in

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2184-688: The pre-ceramic Mount Taylor period (5000-2000 BCE) was followed by the ceramic Orange culture (2300-500 BCE). The Norwood culture in the Apalachee region of Florida (2300-500 BCE), was contemporary with the very similar Orange culture. The late Archaic Elliott's Point complex, found in the Florida panhandle from the delta of the Apalachicola River westward, may have been related to the Poverty Point culture. The area around Tampa Bay and southwest Florida (from Charlotte Harbor to

2236-506: The state of Florida and adjacent parts of Alabama and Georgia in the 16th and 17th centuries: From the beginning of the 18th century, various groups of Native Americans, primarily Muscogee people (called Creeks by the English ) from north of present-day Florida, moved into what is now the state . The Creek migrants included Hitchiti and Mikasuki speakers. There were also some non-Creek Yamasee and Yuchi migrants. They merged to form

2288-521: The teachers were not generally prepared for the life at Chokoloskee, and most did not stay very long. The children of Chokoloskee Island did not attend school past the eighth grade until the late 1930s, when some began attending high school in Everglades City and Naples . Religious services were also sporadic. A priest would come up from Key West on occasion to provide for the Catholics on

2340-490: The time of first contact with Europeans. However, the indigenous Floridians living east of the Apalachicola River had largely died out by the early 18th century. Some Apalachees migrated to Louisiana , where their descendants now live; some were taken to Cuba and Mexico by the Spanish in the 18th century, and a few may have been absorbed into the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes. The first people arrived in Florida before

2392-522: The tools, such as the Hendrix scraper of the early Paleoindian period, and the Edgefield scraper of the late Paleoindian period, are distinctive enough to aid in dating deposits. A few underwater sites in Florida have yielded Paleoindian artifacts of ivory, bone, antler, shell, and wood. A type of artifact found in rivers in northern Florida is the ivory foreshaft. One end of a foreshaft was attached to

2444-496: The two Santini brothers. These early residents farmed, fished and caught turtles , selling any surpluses in Key West . Other residents came and went fairly frequently. Due to the efforts of Charles Greenleigh (C.G.) McKinney, a post office was established in Chokoloskee in 1891, although it was known as "Comfort" for the first few months. In 1897 Ted Smallwood moved to Chokoloskee Island. There were still just five other families on

2496-423: The warm, wet climate and often acidic soils of Florida. Organic materials that can be dated through radiocarbon dating are rare at Paleoindian sites in Florida, usually found only where the material has remained under water continuously since the Paleoindian period. Stone tools are therefore often the only clues to dating prehistoric sites without ceramics in Florida. Projectile points (probably used on spears,

2548-476: Was 1,445.0 inhabitants per square mile (557.9/km). There were 589 housing units at an average density of 2,106.7 per square mile (813.4/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 98.51% White , 0.25% from other races , and 1.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.23% of the population. There were 183 households, out of which 16.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.6% were married couples living together, 7.1% had

2600-407: Was 50 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.2 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $ 33,750, and the median income for a family was $ 36,389. Males had a median income of $ 26,333 versus $ 19,250 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $ 16,847. About 2.4% of families and 1.6% of the population were below

2652-764: Was briefly occupied by the United States Army during the Third Seminole War . In November 1856, 110 men of the Florida Mounted Volunteers reached Chokoloskee Island. From there, an expedition of 75 men went up the Turner River, where they burned a Seminole settlement and a couple of planted fields. After a skirmish with the Seminoles in which a Captain John Parkhill was killed, the expedition returned to Chokoloskee Island to find that their base had been moved to Cape Romano , because of

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2704-433: Was created out of part of Monroe County, including Chokoloskee, but the county seat was in Fort Myers, almost 90 miles (140 km) in the opposite direction from Key West. Finally, in 1923, Collier County was created out of Lee County, with the county seat at Everglades City , just a few miles across Chokoloskee Bay from Chokoloskee Island. However, access to the outside world was still by boat to Key West or Fort Myers until

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