Koreshan State Historic Site

Not far from our home base in Estero is a wonderful little state historic site full of local history.  Koreshan began when a religious organization followed it's leader to the area in 1894.

Sue joined Chris, Darla, Mary and me for an exploration of the park.

 Several of the older buildings are still on the property. They were a very resourceful and self sustaining group.

One of the many volunteers was giving a demonstration of how they cooked bread in Dutch ovens.

Mary could not wait to sample some of the orange marmalade on a fresh piece of bread.

We walked a trail that meandered under giant palms and bamboo alongside the Estero River. Often we paused to look at bromeliads high in the trees.

While in the park we learned that this is the place to rent canoes! Five dollars per canoe for an hour seemed like a good deal to us. We came back to the park and spent two peaceful hours afloat on the Estero River.

The Estero was fairly narrow in this section while we paddled quietly upstream .. or was it down.

Darla engineered the front of our canoe while Chris and Mary shared the other one.

As we went under the bridge we passed the outfitter that rents kayaks and canoes but I am sure it is not $5 an hour.

Darla and I floated under many giant oaks with the Spanish moss dangling downward towards the river. Near the end of the float we paddled a little further upstream and got to see some Manatees.

Chris and Mary especially liked this fern laden branch leaning out over the river.

When the floating was done it was time to clean up and go in search of seafood!! What a grand day.