Way down south and east in Collier County, Florida, in The Everglades, is a town called Chokoloskee that until 1955 could only be accessed by boat. It’s worth the drive to explore this old Florida area with its rich history.
But first, how do you pronounce the name and what does it mean? Pronounced chuk-uh-lus-kee, the name comes from the Seminole-Creek chuku meaning house and liski meaning old, according to the book “Florida Place Names.” Other interpretations are just “home.”
Home for centuries to Calusa Indians, Chokoloskee was “settled” in the 1870s by European travelers. The Calusa were known for their shell mounds, which were places to toss out shells of oyster and conch the Calusa used for food and sometimes built into tools. These mounds built up the islands of Chokoloskee and parts of Marco Island, providing higher ground as protection from hurricanes that hit the area often…