Collier County
Collier County is often touted as the largest county by geographical size in Florida, and what’s more impressive: more than 75 percent of the land is set aside for federal, state, and county parks and conservation. As a result, it is home to vast wildlands—swamp, prairie, marsh, and coastal ecosystems—along with rural and agricultural areas that flourish in the frost-free area. Collier County was one of the last frontiers in the American South, and it was named for advertising magnate Barron Gift Collier who, at one time, was the largest landowner in Florida and fueled the completion of the construction of the Tamiami Trail. Today it has three incorporated cities and many distinct communities throughout the unincorporated parts of the county. Here is a snapshot of the municipalities:
Everglades City: Coastal Outback
When Collier County was carved out of Lee County by the Florida legislature in 1923, this remote town was incorporated as Everglades and designated the county seat. (The county seat later moved to Naples.) The town served as the base for Barron Collier’s development of the Tamiami Trail, linking the east and west coasts of South Florida, which opened with national fanfare in 1928. Its arduous completion through muck, limestone, and swarms of mosquitoes unlocked the remote region for more efficient travel for tourism, commerce, and development.
Located on the edge of Chokoloskee Bay, the Everglades City area had previously been occupied for millennia by Native Americans, followed by Seminoles and white settlers after the Civil War…