ST INS CARES-Estero Island Historic Society-From Calusa Empire To Hurricane Ian: Preserving Fort Myers Beach History

A century-old cottage with a six-foot storm line, a rare rain barrel that once caught every drop, and neighbors who refused to let their stories wash away—this is how Fort Myers Beach remembers. We sat with Janet Gottlieb and Ellie Bunting of the Estero Island Historical Society to trace the island’s long arc from the Calusa empire to Hurricane Ian, and to show how real preservation happens: one artifact, one photo, one shared memory at a time.

We walk through the island’s boom-and-bust rhythms, the shock of losing paper archives to storm surge, and the grassroots recovery that followed. Ellie’s book, The Lost Icons of Fort Myers Beach, turned grief into action and funded new floors, walls, and storage while the community brought in hand-painted street signs, salvaged photos, and home videos. With help from FGCU, decades of tapes and oral histories are being digitized. WGCU is gathering family beach footage for an upcoming documentary, proving that everyday joy can be powerful public history.

You’ll hear about a revitalized programming slate: decade-by-decade exhibits from the 1800s to 1920, live “murder mystery” events based on true island lore, and public talks that connect culture, faith, and community resilience. We also highlight partnerships with Matanzas Pass Preserve and the Mound House, where visitors can stand on Calusa shell mounds, trace ancient canals, and see how water shaped survival long before utilities and condos. For newcomers and longtime residents, this is a field guide to belonging—where to go, what to read, and how to pitch in.

If you care about Fort Myers Beach history, there’s a role for you. Bring artifacts, share photos, record a story, become a member, or shop custom mugs featuring historic street names. Hit play, then come see the cottage, walk the trails when they reopen, and help us keep the island’s memory alive. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a neighbor who loves this place as much as you do.

Estero Island Historical Society
Ellie Bunting and Janet Gottlieb
161 Bay Road, Fort Myers Beach, Florida, 33931
profbunting@gmail.com
esteroislandhistoricsociety.org

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Transcript

Welcome And Mission

Intro/Close 0:00

Welcome to the State Insurance USA Cares podcast, where we celebrate the heart of our community. Each episode, we highlight local charities and nonprofits who are bringing hope, health, and healing to those who need it most. Get ready to be inspired by the amazing stories of people making a difference. Because together, we care.

A Century-Old Cottage Survives

"Cabo" Jim 0:20

Welcome, Fort Myers Beach, good neighbors. Today we are at the Estero Island Historic Society, and we've got Janet Gottlieb and Ellie Bunting to share a little bit about the Historic Society and what you guys do here and about the important information and history about this island that we need to share with all the listeners out there and everybody moving it. We got a lot of new people moving to the island, right? Right. You know, uh, so we need to make sure they're aware of the history as well as people like myself. You know, I've been here for a long time, but there's stories I haven't heard that I want to hear. So without further ado, why don't we jump right in and why don't you share a little bit about what you do here at the Historical Society?

Ellie Bunting 1:00

Well, I think our main purpose is to preserve the history of the island and to educate people about the history of the island and where we came from that would hopefully help us predict the future.

"Cabo" Jim 1:15

Right. And how long have you been involved in it?

Ellie Bunting 1:18

In the historical society? Oh, I would say probably at least 25 years. Okay. Um yeah. A lot of changes in in that time. Definitely. And I've been president since Ian. So not that long.

"Cabo" Jim 1:34

Right.

Ellie Bunting 1:36

It's been quite a long time, but yeah.

"Cabo" Jim 1:38

You look at some of the rebuilding, you're like, it's been a while.

unknown 1:41

Yeah.

"Cabo" Jim 1:41

You know, and that's that's part of the the the history side of it. Is like I find myself, I've been down here since 89. Um, I find myself driving up and down the stereo boulevard going, what was there? Yeah, where was that? You know, you're forgetting where these places were, you know, because it doesn't look the same anymore. That's you know, that's the downside of it. But you know, you guys are here to capture a lot of that. I know you've got the old uh street signs that we use temporarily during the inn, which is a nice little yeah.

Janet Gottlieb 2:09

Yeah, we were very grateful to have those mementos of how people got through Hurricane Ian and the aftermath. Yeah, they really we community really came together for that.

"Cabo" Jim 2:20

So this this house, this this cottage has got a little history behind it, right? That made it through the hurricane, right?

Ellie Bunting 2:26

It did. It was built in 1921, and uh it was there's argument with it, it was a second house or the fourth house on the island, but it was one of the first ones, right? And for many years it was a sandcastle kindergarten, and it was located on Mango Street right on the beach. Okay, wow, so it was a great place. A lot of kids went there, yeah, a lot of beach kids.

"Cabo" Jim 2:49

And then when did you come to this location?

Ellie Bunting 2:53

Sometime in the 90s, okay.

Janet Gottlieb 2:56

Right after we became a town, I think they right 1995 is when the official founding of the Ciro Island is.

"Cabo" Jim 3:04

And we've got about 30 years this year, right? Yeah, it's coming up. March 6th, they're doing a parade or something like that, right?

Janet Gottlieb 3:10

Right. Oh, yeah, yeah. The town of Port Myers Beach is gonna have big extravaganza to celebrate being a town for 30 years.

"Cabo" Jim 3:17

But the history goes back way beyond 30 years, yes, goes back to uh no the late 1800s.

Ellie Bunting 3:24

Okay, at least where people were on that front. Yep.

"Cabo" Jim 3:28

And it's evolved since then, a lot of changes, a lot of things going on with that as well, too.

Janet Gottlieb 3:33

Absolutely. Yeah, there's been eras of change, I think waves of change, and it's always been sort of a since the people came to settle here in the 1880s, it's been kind of always a boom and bust sort of cycle.

"Cabo" Jim 3:49

Yeah, roller coaster.

Janet Gottlieb 3:50

Roller coaster in terms of economy and resources and weather, hurricanes and uh tourism, all kinds of things. It has been cyclical, and that's still the way it is. Yeah, and um, but I think Hurricane Ian was really a watershed in history.

"Cabo" Jim 4:08

Yeah, I mean, and prior to that, I remember I I heard about it when I first moved here, it was Hurricane Donna. Yeah, you know, that was the big one before that. 1960, yes.

Janet Gottlieb 4:18

That was a bad one. But there were how many people on the island then? Less people, yeah, no condos, yeah, exactly. No high rises. Yeah, yeah.

Rebuilding Archives After Ian

"Cabo" Jim 4:26

Now the landscape looks a little different, and it's gonna change again. So we're we're evolving and getting to a better place. Yes, I hope so. What type of things do you guys do as far as Historical Society is concerned? I mean, where do you get all your information? How do how do you gather all that?

Janet Gottlieb 4:45

Well, we had archives that our one of our founding members, AJ Bassett, was an incredible archivist and curator. Okay. And she organized files, she took donations of historical artifacts from people and cataloged them and filed them and was very systematic. And of course, Hurricane Ian wiped out pretty much all of our paper files, many of our artifacts. But then the community has come together and really helped us rebuild a lot of our collection. And then Ellie, Ellie Bunting, wrote a book called The Lost Icons of Fort Myers Beach, which took us back before even Hurricane Ian to the things we had, the people who were here, the places, and what we lost, not only in Hurricane Ian, but in previous, like Hurricane Donna, Hurricane Charlie in 2004, the hurricanes in the 1920s and 40s, which were very devastating. We actually had a long period, I guess, after Hurricane Donna, when we didn't have a lot of major hurricanes. We always had storms. So people have donated. Um, some of us have been either living here or visiting here for most of our lives. So we've gathered information and talked to people and um just realized how important it is to keep hold of that history because it it's easy to have it slip away. And the history is fascinating, you know, it it's quite amazing for a little barrier island.

Exhibits, Mysteries, And Events

"Cabo" Jim 6:20

Yeah, there's quite a bit of history here, and it's we all love it. And and that's one thing I want to uh make aware to the listeners as well, too, is I mean, there's a lot of things that are you don't find them until you start digging for them. I mean, people are rebuilding their houses and they had stuff in storage, and now they're digging through storage, going, Oh, I still have this. That's stuff that they yeah, don't throw it away, bring it here, you know, right? Share it and let's remember some of the history on some of that. So you guys do a lot with the community as far as being involved. Uh, are there any certain things that are happening that we should share with our listeners?

Ellie Bunting 6:53

Well, we've got uh presentations coming up. Um we're doing our first exhibit that we've had since last year's opening tomorrow. Okay, and it's on the uh first from the 1800s to 1920. We're gonna try to go through it decade by decade, every month do a different decade. And um, that way you can dive a little bit deeper into the history. And um so our first one is tomorrow, and then we're doing the murder mysteries. We've got one scheduled for next weekend on the Body in the Bay, another one scheduled in March. So we've got another public meeting in March on the religion on the island, and um and we're working, Janet and I are working on a book on the mysteries, island mysteries. Right. So we hope to have that out next year sometime. Next year, yeah.

"Cabo" Jim 7:45

So you do you write a lot of books. We wrote the last items as well, too. How do you get involved in that?

Ellie Bunting 7:51

Well, after Ian, um, you know, I looked it out and saw all the damages when I was we were on the east coast and I saw it on on TV and I was like, wow, what we've lost. And um, I just started blogging about one thing at a time, and eventually I had 30 things, so like we might as well put it together in some format because as much as I like technology, I want a book on my coffee table. I don't have to go and click a bunch of buttons to find it. Yep, yep.

Janet Gottlieb 8:23

And people who like technology can find a lot of the information on our website. But um, that book has sold tremendously well, yeah, been a great source of funds as we rebuilt after Hurricane Ian. I think it we spent sixty thousand dollars roughly to redo all the walls and floors. These are all original to the house.

"Cabo" Jim 8:44

Wow.

Janet Gottlieb 8:45

And to clean and to gather and and start reorganizing the materials we did have.

"Cabo" Jim 8:52

So that's been um so there's there's what something happening back here, whether a park or an area back here, right?

Preserves, Partnerships, And Trails

Ellie Bunting 8:59

The Van Hounds' Past Preserve uh was beautiful, beautiful before the storm. And they are rebuilding it and they claim it's going to be done by the end of May.

"Cabo" Jim 9:10

Wow.

Ellie Bunting 9:11

And we're very excited because uh a lot of people come back here to explore the bay and the the preserve, and then they come and see us, and it's uh it's a good cooperation. We work very closely with those people with the friends of the preserve. Okay. Right.

Janet Gottlieb 9:27

We're looking forward to being part of their grand reopening, which is, I think, going to be at the end of May, or it's planned to be. And then we're next season we're going to start having some collaborations with them, integrating some of the Matantas Pass Preserve trails and stories into what we teach people about history and what we share about the history, because that's a big part of it. Exactly. That almost that's a 60-acre preserve, I think. And it also almost got developed and became more condos or resort or homes. Um, and it's it's unique. There's no other large piece of land anymore on all of Fort Myers Beach that's in its natural original state. So those things are precious, and um we're glad that it's still there.

"Cabo" Jim 10:16

Exactly. And we talked just a little bit off the island. We talked that almost happened with Lover's Key as well, too, right? Or somebody wanted to develop that and they did because it's just a beautiful place now.

Janet Gottlieb 10:27

That's right.

Rain Barrel Relic And Storm Surge

"Cabo" Jim 10:30

We can do that. So we gotta maintain those and bring them back. Now, on the side of the cottage, there's what a big what is that on the side of the cottage there?

Janet Gottlieb 10:40

The rain barrel.

"Cabo" Jim 10:41

Yes, the rain barrel, yes. That the story that I have.

Ellie Bunting 10:45

Well, rain barrels were really important back in the day because we didn't have any water out here, so they would collect the water and use the water for bathing and cleaning and things like that. This was the last remaining rain barrel, was I want to say it was on high Hercules, maybe, and it was donated to us. And um, absolutely my son was working on a Zegel Scout project. Right, so they took it apart, brought it here, and they have rebuilt it. It's significantly uh damaged, yeah, needs a lot of uh work to get it back up. But we did have a contractor come in and at least lift it up and straighten it. So, but that's on our radar to get that.

"Cabo" Jim 11:28

It survived hurricane too, which is amazing. Right? How much water did you kind of step into?

How To Help And Get Involved

Janet Gottlieb 11:33

Well, there's a line on the door over there, it's I'm gonna say six feet or close to six feet. Wow. Uh so this was full of storm surge and everything was tumbled around. And in our other building, which is back there from the 1960s, this one's from 1921. We had our archives carefully managed and uh preserved in fireproof cabinets that were not waterproof. So they everything was pretty waterlogged and we salvaged what we could. Yeah, but um sometimes it's the knowledge from books that we've been selling and that other people have written, as well as the book Ellie wrote, that keep that history from the old days alive. And we we sell those and we gained a lot of knowledge from those.

"Cabo" Jim 12:20

And I think that's why that's what's important about what you guys are doing, you know. But we need the help from the community as well, too. Not just not just the stories, but you know, to help get things done and preserve some of this history because like I said, we're going through another evolution here on the beach and change things are changing, and we don't want people to forget where we were, where we've been, and where we came from. You know, it's very important. So I appreciate what you you ladies are doing to preserve that. But uh as a listener or somebody out there, a member of the community, how would they get involved if they wanna wanted to help out?

Tapes, Oral Histories, And WGCU

Janet Gottlieb 12:54

Well, I think they should start by going to our website, which is www. Estero island historic society dot com. And there's a wealth of information. There's an events page with all of our upcoming events. There's the home pages what we're about and what our purpose is, and um there are some historic archives in those pages of buildings and uh neighborhoods, people and places that were here, and how they've either changed or disappeared. So that's a good place to start and then come to some of our events. We're having some events through most of the month of March, and um, our season runs generally November, December, we have our open house and then January through March, and next year, possibly April, we have public meetings, presentations about historic topics. Very nice. We had one last month this past Monday, and we encourage people to come out because everything is free of charge. We welcome donations, but uh we want to share the history, yeah, and we want to get as many people who are here involved as we can.

"Cabo" Jim 14:04

And people can, I know you had some damage with your records, but people can become members as well, too.

Ellie Bunting 14:09

Yes, you can become members on the website. There's a link where you can join. Um, you get a newsletter we send also events. So every time we have an event, we send out a reminder to the people that are on our mailing list. So even if you're not a member and you want to get on the mailing list, you can still subscribe to the newsletter and we'll put you on our list to get the information. Right.

Calusa Roots And Must-See Sites

Janet Gottlieb 14:32

And we have a shop where you can buy historic books about the history of Fort Myers Beach and the area. Locks icons and other books that we've had for years. And we we have mugs, individual mugs. You can get any of these historic uh hand-painted street signs. If you have a particular street, yeah, you can um on the website, you can say, Well, I want one or five or whatever number of mugs with my street's name on them, and we can produce those. And we're creating a poster with all of the street signs that we have, all the hand-painted ones, and it's a beautiful poster that's going to be for sale very soon.

"Cabo" Jim 15:09

All right. So you guys are doing a lot of good things to get the you know, get the word out and kind of rebuild per se as we are as soon as read the word down here and and get capture things. On the other side of it, if um well, we talked about people wanting to help out, but I mean, is there something else we want to share with our listeners as far as capturing some of that history?

Janet Gottlieb 15:34

Capturing some of that history. Well, if people have any artifacts or any stories about the old days or anything they want to share, um, they should get in touch with us through our website. That would be great. Excuse me. Sorry.

Ellie Bunting 15:56

Yeah, also we're working with um WGCU, okay, the public radio, and uh, I guess they're doing some kind of a documentary on island history. All right, and they have asked us to um get the word out. They're looking for particularly videos, and they want like fun videos of families having fun on the beach, right? Um, those kinds of things. And um we have a whole bunch of uh tapes that we found. Somebody found them after the hurricane, and they were in good shape, and we've started previewing them. They're little, those little um, I don't even know what it was, or they had that those little video gamers. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, tiny FGCU came yesterday, we met and they went through and they picked the ones that they're gonna digitize them for us, very nice, and then we'll be able to incorporate that. There's a lot of oral histories that were done for people that used to live here, and William Santini's on there, and uh Joe Yu's and some of the older people that are no longer around, we at least have their stories. And that's important, and that's important. And so anything anybody might have, uh they're looking for it. So let us know and we'll pass it on to them.

"Cabo" Jim 17:05

Very nice, very nice. I love it. No, I love what you ladies are doing. Um, you know, thank you for for doing that. Yeah, it's I think it's an important part of us moving forward and moving beyond everything. But um, any last words for our listeners today?

Janet Gottlieb 17:20

I think I would just say that uh the history of this island is fascinating. And as much as maybe most of us uh people from the United States started coming down here in the 1880s, there were people here on and off 10,000 years ago, the Calusa people, and they actually had this was the center of their empire, Mound Key, near here. So we do have a lot of information about the Calusa, the original people who were here, and um everything from then until today, and there's a lot to share, and we want people to be aware of it because it's fascinating, and as they say, the past is prologue. It is.

"Cabo" Jim 17:59

I mean people's memory only go back so far. It's like, well, I remember when my grandparents used to come there and that's far back. And they fought a lot of fish. Yeah, yeah. It goes way beyond that, way back. So a lot a lot of history, a lot of capturing, a lot of you know, if you get a chance, by all means come out here, uh explore it. Uh, I guess I should ask out first time visitor here, first time, you know, somebody moved here. What is one thing that they should go check out? Besides here, you know, as on the island. I mean the moundhouse is the moundhouse.

Ellie Bunting 18:31

I would say the moundhouse, yeah.

Janet Gottlieb 18:33

Where which is built on a Calusa mound, uh not a burial mound, but a it was like a kitchen mitten, and uh where they put refuse and built it up to a also to be a lookout point at a strategic part of the island. That'd be a great place. And if you can get a boat and go out to Mount Key, it's a state park, I think. People can walk the trails there, climb up 60 feet or whatever. And again, that that island was created by um building by the collusa. Wow, they they did that over, I'm sure, many, many years. Many and they dug canals, and that was their ceremonial center. So it's an important, there's a lot of important places if you dig around and go to the Chamber of Commerce and find out more.

Closing And Community Support

"Cabo" Jim 19:20

That is it, that is it. You know, it is more than just the beach, which is beautiful, and the water and the boating. There's other things to do here and other things to see and other things to learn. That's right. Well, very good. I appreciate your time today. Thank you for being such good neighbors, and uh thank you. I'm looking forward to your series here. Yeah, come on, check that out. Okay, all right. Well, you ladies have a wonderful afternoon. Okay. Thank you.

Intro/Close 19:45

On State Insurance USA Care. We hope today's story uplifted and inspired you. If you'd like to support or learn more about the incredible work happening in your community, visit StateInsuranceUSA.com or call 239 567 9992. You can also visit CaboWaboJim.com. Until next time, be sure to let your son die and keep caring good and positive lives wherever the waves take you.