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Mound Key Archaeological State Park is a place rich in early Florida history. The island showcases over 2,000 years of the Calusa Indian civilization. Originally, it was believed to have started as a flat, mangrove-lined oyster bar barely above the waters of Estero Bay.

Positioned at the heart of the estuary, the island made it easy for the natives to find food. As the population grew, the remnants of their meals were gathered and piled into middens.

Historically, Mound Key served as the cultural hub for the Calusa people, also known as Calos.

In the early 1500s, the Calusa had their initial encounters with Europeans as the Spaniards began their explorations in the Caribbean and Florida peninsula. The first recorded interaction between the Calusa and Europeans was with Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513.

In 1566, the first Governor of Florida, Pedro Menenzez de Aviles, was appointed at this important site. Additionally, this was the location of the first Jesuit mission in the New World, San Antonio de Carlos. The Spanish presence on the island was brief and tumultuous, leading to abandonment by 1569. Unfortunately, the introduction of new diseases by the Spaniards, combined with ongoing conflicts with local tribes, contributed to the decline of the Calusa society, which eventually dissipated around 1750.

Nevertheless, human presence continued on the island. Pirates and fishermen frequented the site for several decades until it was homesteaded by Frank Johnson in 1891.

The Johnson family attracted other settlers to farm the lands until the property was eventually acquired by the utopian Koreshans in 1905.

Today, the majority of Mound Key Archaeological State Park is preserved as a significant state archaeological site.

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