Florida Everglades

Everglades City

"Everglades City proclaims itself as the Gateway to the 10,000 Islands, and for paddlers that is most certainly true. It is one end of the Wilderness Waterway, the famous Everglades backcountry route linking Everglades City to Flamingo. It is the best place in the 10,000 Islands to rent canoes or kayaks, hook up with a guided paddling excursion, or find a comfortable room from which to base your explorations of Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. It even has a tiny airport, so you can fly in or book a float plane tour to get a bird's-eye view of the islands before putting your paddle to the water.

Prior to 1923, Everglades City was called Everglade, a name given the settlement along the crooked little Allen's River in 1893 by Bembery Storter after the U.S. Post Office refused the request for the name Chokoloskee. Farming was the primary occupation of people living in the area and included sugarcane, bananas, and vegetables. Allen gave Everglades City its start, but George T. Storter is considered the true founder of the town. He and his family were prominent in Everglade's growth and activities and owned much of the land around the town until the arrival of Baron Collier in 1923. It was under the Storter stewardship the Everglade began to draw visitors and sportsmen. The Rod and Gun Club was built around the Storter home.

Barron Collier is primarily responsible for the foundation of Everglades City as you see it today. In 1923 he and his company purchased most of the land in and surrounding the town. Within five years the sleepy trading post and farming community was converted into a bustling industrial-based comp[any town replete with roads, a railroad, a bank, a telephone, sawmills, a boatyard, churches, a school, workers' barracks and mess halls, and even its own streetcar at one time. The Ivey House, home of NACT-Everglades Rentals and Eco Adventures, was once one of the Collier Company workers' barracks.

With the establishment of Everglades National Park and subsequent purchase of most of Big Cypress Swamp and the 10,000 Islands for conservation, Everglades City once again looks to the natural environment for economic viability through nature tourism, sportfishing, and commercial crabbing. Everglades National Park was formally dedicated in Everglades City on December 6, 1947. The Gulf Coast Visitor Center of Everglades National Park is perched at the edge of the Chokoloskee Bay, and many paddling routes depart from the canoe ramp behind the maintenance buildings."
by Jeff Ripple, author, Day Paddling - Florida's 10,000 Islands and Big Cypress Swamp

Everglades Area Tours Enjoy a guided boat tour in the 10,000 Islands; Experience kayak fishing in the Everglades National Park backcountry; Canoe through magnificent mangrove tunnels; Enjoy a guided bicycle tour amongst old-growth cypress hammocks; Catch tarpon and snook on a guided fishing trip; Hike into the prairies, wetlands and sloughs to find rare orchids; Take a guided birding trip; or over fly the entire area in a float plane.

See Manatees Take the whole family on this exciting 1½ hour private boat trip into a remote Everglades manatee hideout. Trips are by appointment only ~ Call Captains Barry and Carol at 239-642-8818. Captains Barry and Carol Berger offer guaranteed private manatee sightseeing trips (for a maximum of 6 passengers), giving you the unique opportunity to get up close and personal with these amazing gentle creatures . . . and if you don’t see a manatee you don’t pay for the trip!

EVERGLADES CITY BUSINESS