Blog: Estero Island Cottage and Matanzas Pass

What was your overall opinion of Estero Island Cottage and Matanzas Pass? What sights, sounds, and/or experiences stood out? Give concrete examples of how the local quality of life is being enhanced. How has your hometown changed since you were a child? Do you still feel a sense of community? If a developer offered you 300% the market value of your childhood home to develop into condos, would you take it? What if the county approached you about purchasing the land under the 20/20 program, for 80% of its market value?

When I arrived to Estero Island Cottage and Matanzas Pass I was completely surprised by what I saw. I was not expecting to go on a Cottage that was filled with so much history. The Cottage was built in and 1920s, and survived the great 1926 hurricane, and is still standing strong today. The sights, sounds, and/or experiences that stood out to me was the sound of the bees buzzing over the sea grape tree, the sound of the fish swimming up to feed, seeing all the different kinds mangroves (red, black, and white), hearing the lady in the cottage talk about her life in Estero, from the beginning, while eating her seagrape jam, are what stood out to me the most. This entire trip was just a lovely experience.

Before Estero Island, was developed the Calusa Indians inhabited the island. Then the Spanish came and the Calusa reign was put to an end. Years later the first people to colonize and live in the area after the natives, were commercial fisherman. In 1937 the first school was built on the island, and in that same year, so was a church. Today there are nearly 6,000 civilians on the off season, and in season, there are 50,000 people. The island continues to grow each year. Back then there were only three canals, now there are over 100.

My hometown Coral Springs, hasn't really changed much over the years, the only major difference is more houses. In a way I like that Coral Springs has remained almost the same, it gives me the feel of a sense of place. I know that city like the back of my hand. If a developer offered me a 300% market share of my hometown, I would not take it to build condos. If anything I would build more places for teenagers and young adults to go to to hang out, because there really is nothing in Coral Springs except for houses, so building more condos would only make it more boring. Coral Springs is very calm, and slow, it is a great place to go to just relax.