History of Fort Myers Beach Told Through Photographs

Dec. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- The newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series is Fort Myers Beach from local author Mary Kaye Stevens, in collaboration with the Estero Island Historic Society. The book boasts more than 200 vintage images and memories of days gone by.

The once sleepy barrier island labeled Estero Island on navigational charts was dubbed Fort Myers Beach in the early part of the 20th century by city folks who spent their weekends on its wide, sandy beaches. Centuries earlier, an abundance of fish and other seafood made the 6.5-mile-long island attractive to its earliest inhabitants, the Calusa, as well as explorers, fisherfolk, and a pirate or two.

In the late 19th century, early homesteaders were lured by stories of free tillable soil in a balmy climate surrounded by warm waters and ankle-deep shells. When pink shrimp, labeled “Pink Gold,” were found in nearby waters, another influx of residents arrived. Today, the island is best known as an energetic resort community, but it retains the influence and charm of its remarkable past.

Since its inception in 1993, the Images of America series has preserved and shared the history of hundreds of individual communities throughout the country.  Each title records a town or city’s unique story through more than two hundred historic images. Due to the popularity of this series, it has expanded over time to include worthy local and regional historical topics including the examination and celebration of transportation, industry, architecture, ethnic groups and more

Author Mary Kaye Stevens collaborated with the Estero Island Historic Society in documenting the island’s colorful and intriguing past. In Fort Myers Beach, Stevens’s third book in the Images of America series, readers will find an entertaining and informative retrospective that will surely be a treasure to those who have made Fort Myers Beach home and a treat to those who visit this playground by the sea.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or
(888)-313-2665.  

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com.

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With more than 7,500 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.