On the Southwest Coast of Florida, is Charlotte County

Charlotte County, Florida
There are early evenings when driving into Punta Gorda from the north can take your breath away.

     Contrary to popular belief, American History began in Charlotte Harbor, Florida in 1513 with the officially sanctioned exploration of Florida's east and west coasts by Ponce de Leon. He returned to the Charlotte Harbor complex, probably at Pine Island, in 1521, to establish a colony -- a century before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

     After six weeks of labor to build a fort and church, the expedition was attacked by Calusa aborigines. Ponce was wounded in the thigh by an arrow, and gangrene set in. The entire colony returned in haste to Havana, where Ponce died of his wound.

     The American mainland was opened for European settlement by the Hernando DeSoto expedition of 1539-42. Chronicles of survivors and research of 16th-century ship drafts by Sun-Herald historian-columnist Lindsey Williams indicate the explorer landed at Live Oak Point on the north shore of Charlotte Harbor. The official Florida DeSoto Trail Commission has acknowledged that the Charlotte Harbor landing is as feasible as any other -- pending archaeological proof.

     The Spanish explorer Pedro Menedez D'Aviles, who established the first American colony at St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565, built a mission-fort named San Antonio somewhere in the Charlotte Harbor complex the following year. After two years of alternate cooperation and bloody warfare between the Spaniards and the Calusa, Menendez abandoned his efforts to pacify the fierce Indians of southern Florida.

An easy-going lifestyle
     Englewood, Fla., has been called the "Gem of the Suncoast," "the Heart of the Suncoast," "a bit of Heaven on Earth," "a place unspoiled by high rises and high prices," and "where the livin' is easy," yet it still remains one of Florida's best kept secrets - a secret about which more and more Floridians and "up north" tourists are learning.

     Englewood and its year-round residents retain the easy-going lifestyle of a small, close-knit community, which invites family and special guests back each season to revel in the secret it holds dear. This unspoken secret emanates throughout Englewood, a community of communities, setting comfortably on an area straddling two counties, harbored by several small islands and magnificent beaches in a tropical setting.

     While nourishing its small town atmosphere, Englewood also rises to the demands of growth and modernization, keeping up with new ideas and ways to maintain its way of life. Englewood is a beach community that thrives on its cultural events, nature parks, beaches, fishing, boating, and so much more.

     Located on the beautiful Lemon Bay, off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, Englewood is just a short 85-mile trip away from metropolitan Tampa Bay, 90 miles north of Naples, and only 50 miles north of Fort Myers. Englewood is easily accessible from U.S. Business 41 and Interstate 75.

A century of memories
     Englewood is more than 100 years old, although artifacts found at the Indian Mound Park date back as far as 400 B.C., giving cause to believe that the Englewood area was inhabited then, by the Calusa Indians.

     Some years later (1884), Herbert Nicholas, of Englewood, Ill., and his two brothers came to the area in hopes of building a business growing lemons (a cure for the scurvy, and in high demand).

     Mother Nature had a way, even back then, of throwing a curve ball into the best-made plans. The mammoth freezes in 1894 and 1895 brought disaster and destruction to the lemon trees all along the coast from Tampa down to Fort Myers. Although there was never a freeze like that again, promoters of the area decided to change their tactics and to lure investors. They advertised the Englewood area as a fine place to raise families, or retire, promoting the area as laid back, with an easy lifestyle pace and excellent fishing and hunting.

     In 1897, a directory of the Lemon Bay area noted a population of 86, with 16 adults, 34 children and a combination of 30 winter residents or men in the fish camps. In 1898, the Englewood area, including Grove City and adjoining areas, was inhabited by some 250 people, and land was selling at $30 an acre. In 1910, the town of Englewood (not the surrounding areas) had a federal census figure of 75 permanent residents, with about 50 winter residents. (Today, Englewood's permanent population is approaching 50,000. With winter residents included, it is closer to 75,000.)

     The lumber industry was next to take root at the turn of the century, providing jobs and a boost to the economy of Englewood. But this too, would eventually falter in 1923, as railroad ties, booming construction and turpentine stripped the area of trees. Reforestation was not a factor in those days, hence, when the trees were gone, so were the jobs. The promoters once again rallied that Englewood was a tourist attraction and a fine place to retire in an easy-going lifestyle and a wonderful place to raise children.

     With the promoters' lifestyle established, Englewood also grew slowly, with no more tries at industry, savoring the easy going pace, laid back atmosphere of the community it was. In 1926, Englewood's first church was built on Green Street. It was served by a traveling Methodist preacher from Nokomis. This building is now being renovated by the Lemon Bay Historical Society.

     In 1927 a bridge was built across Lemon Bay, joining Manasota Key and the Gulf beaches with the mainland. The toll was 50 cents. This bridge has now been rebuilt twice, once in 1950 and again in 1964. A part of the old wooden bridge is now the Bill Ainger fishing pier.

     Alexander Graham Bell's invention, the telephone, finally arrived in remote Englewood. In 1948, a Venice phone book listed 46 phone numbers for Englewood, with 22 being business phones and 24 for private use.

     In 1956, the Sarasota side of Englewood had only a part-time sheriff. His full-time job was as a carpenter. He was to be available 24 hours a day, use his own automobile and provide his own gas. He made a whopping $200 per month.

     In 1958, the post office was the fastest growing in the state, and by 1960, two carriers were hired to deliver the mail to the 2,864 residents. A new post office had to be built, increasing the total of boxes from 400 to 1,000.

     There is so much history to be told about Englewood. This brief synopsis is only a fraction of the real history of the area. The history in the town is in the people who lived it, talked about it to their children, and perhaps even wrote it down. Many of the people are gone, but some still remain, and they still have stories to tell. And, they still live in Englewood.