I agree with the people from Lee. I spent two years down there and used the south library off…read moreGladiolus (I believe it was on Bass.) and the north Fort Myers just over the Edison bridge. Unlike what is left of the Charlotte libraries, I never left a Lee county library empty handed. Unfortunately, I believe the reason for that is the difference in the size of the population. I'm sure Lee gets a much larger amount of funding. So much so that they have enough books to actually seperate them by type, making it easier to find what you're looking for. There is no excuse I can think of to not have a complete set of a series though. Has happened to me enough times that I no longer take out any part of a series. I tend to just be glad we have a library at all considering the state of things today. Overall I believe these people are doing the best they can with what they have to work with.

We recently moved to Charlotte County from Lee and we're disappointed in the limited selection of…read moreBOOKS at the Punta Gorda Library. Just about anything I'm interested in reading is only available electronically. The Biographies and History sections are minimal. Fiction is no better - as an example, they'll have one book from a series of seven, maybe 3 books from a series of 15 and a 32-book series has only 10 books - and they're not in series order. Makes it frustrating.

Staff was very helpful and got the job done! The building was very clean and neat. Thank you all…read morefor your help

Excellent efficient service!! All done by a phone call, and honestly I was expecting the opposite…read morefrom experiences long in the past. I was amazed!!

There was not much going on this morning in the plaza. Sunday morning in early December and while…read morethere were a few holiday decorations up, there was no activity. There is a marker and it gives some great history. It has the same text on both sides. It reads, "On December 3, 1887, 34 men in the "Town of Trabue" met here in a two-story building, built in 1887, owned by Tom Hector. The diverse group of landlords, tenants, merchants and workers, some white and some black, were all qualified voters. At the time of the meeting, the ground floor was the location of a drug store and the second story was Hector's billiards hall. Above the drug store, at a pool table, the men passed the articles of incorporation by a two-thirds majority. They selected a city seal, a council and the corporate name of Punta Gorda. Although politically active locally and in his native Kentucky, town founder Col. Isaac Trabue had not registered to vote on this issue and was barred from the balloting. Trabue had begun acquiring land in early 1883. He had the land platted, reserving the shoreline for public use and naming streets for family members. Having given up half his holdings for rail service, a depot and a luxury hotel, he was angered by the settlers' ingratitude. The documents were filed at Pine Level, the county seat, on December 7, 1887. Trabue sued to dissolve the municipality and regain title to the public lands. Ten years later he gave up. The Hector House was demolished in 1988." There are some benches here to enjoy the Florida weather. There is street parking nearby. It is marker number F-639 and it was erected in 2008 by the City of Punta Gorda and the Florida Department of State. [Review 1584 of 2025 - 2165 in Florida - 25134 overall]

Located across from the Old Charlotte County Courthouse, Hector House was where 34 voting citizens…read moreof Punta Gorda signed the charter incorporating it into a city on December 3, 1887. They selected a city seal, town council, and changed the name of the town from Trabeu to Punta Gorda which means fat point, as the town protrudes out where Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River meet. The decision to change the name of the town angered town founder Issac Trabeu. Trabeu had not registered to vote on the issue. He had acquired the land in 1883 and platted it, naming the streets for his family members. He gave up some of his land to the railway and to build a luxury hotel. He felt the town was very ungrateful for his sacrifices. He attempted to regain the title to the public lands for the next 1o years but he finally gave up and went back to his native Kentucky. Hector House was owned by Tom Hector and contained a drug store on the first floor and a billiards hall on the second floor. It was torn down in 1988 but there is a historical marker explaining the significance of the site. The city wanted to save the house but they didn't have anywhere to move it to. They have since created the Punta Gorda History Park to house their historic buildings. The plaza has been retained in remembrance of this important event in the towns history. The plaza has benches and landscaping. A solar canopy has also been added by FPL that generates clean energy as well as shade for anyone sitting under it. On Saturdays a farmers market is held in the plaza. It is nice place to relax in downtown Punta Gorda.

The Ponce de Leon marker in Punta Gorda sits quietly inside the park that shares his name, a small…read morehistorical pause tucked between the shoreline and the steady flow of visitors heading toward the beach. The nearby statue, dressed in stylized conquistador armor and feathered plumage, feels like an artist's attempt to give shape to a figure who exists more in legend than in certainty, and it adds a bit of theatrical flair to an otherwise simple presentation. The brief marker reads, Juan Ponce de Leon. Born - San Tierra de Campos, Palencia, Spain - 1460. Died - Havana, Cuba - (probably Mid-June) - 1522. Interred - Entombment beneath the high altar of the Dominican Cathedral of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Epitaph to Ponce de Leon 'Beneath this stone repose the bones of the valiant Lion whose deeds surpassed the greatness of his name.'" What makes the stop interesting is the contrast between the local setting and the truth. Visitors might assume that a park named for Ponce de Leon would also be his resting place. His tomb is in the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Standing there among the palms and the soft Gulf breeze, the marker becomes less about claiming him and more about acknowledging the long arc of his story, grounding a familiar name in its real history. [Review 109 of 2026 - 2230 in Florida - 25299 overall]

This marker stands on the property of the Punta Gorda City Hall, a couple of blocks from both…read moreGilchrist Park and the Gilchrist Bridge that crosses the Peace River and connects the city with Port Charlotte. The marker has the same text on both sides. It reads, "A founder of Punta Gorda, he was a resident until his death. Served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives in 1893, 1895, 1903 and was House Speaker in 1905. He resigned as Brig. Gen. of the Florida Militia and enlisted as a Private in the U.S. Volunteers during the Spanish-American War. He was discharged a captain. He served as Governor 1909-1913. Was noted for rugged honesty, good humor, and concern for others. Gilchrist County was named for him." It is marker number F-109 and was erected in 1963 by the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials. Gilchrist was born into a family that had been wealthy, but the Civil War and his father's early death left him in what one biography calls relative poverty. He was selling firewood at nine and working as a store clerk for fifteen dollars a month before he ever set foot in Florida. He first came as a civil engineer and surveyor for the Florida Southern Railroad in 1885-1886, saw potential in the young town, and quit the railroad to stake his future there. He wasn't just a founder in the ceremonial sense. He was one of the men who voted to incorporate the town, and he ran for mayor in the very first election, losing by only two votes. [Review 1588 of 2025 - 2169 in Florida - 25138 overall]

This marker stands in front of the Fort Ogden post office on US 17. It points out some of the…read moreearliest settler history of the area, predating the Civil War. There is a parking lot here for the post office and you can use it to view the marker. There is a crossover for the highway if you are heading northbound. The marker reads, "As white settlers moved into Florida, demands increased for the removal of the Seminole Indians to a western reservation. The Seminoles failed to cooperate, and in 1835 the conflict known as the Second Seminole War began. By 1841, the Indians were still entrenched in central and south Florida. Campaign plans for that year aimed at clearing Indians from the area between the Withlacoochee River and the frontier and then attacking Indian bands in Big Cypress Swamp. To sustain the wide-ranging troops, detached camps were established at various points. Camp Ogden, named for Captain Edmund Ogden of the 8th U.S. Infantry, seems to have been established in July, 1841, as an advanced position for the Big Cypress campaign. In addition, 55 canoes were constructed for the next winter's Everglades expedition. Before the camp was abandoned in the fall, an influential Indian leader, Coacoochee, visited Camp Ogden. The community of Fort Ogden developed in this citrus and cattle region in the last part of the 19th century and took its name from the Second Seminole War camp. Fort Ogden's post office, established in 1876, is the oldest in DeSoto County to be in continuous service." The text is the same on both sides. [Review 16802 overall - 1526 in Florida - 315 of 2022.]

The tower used to be awesome. According to records, it opened in 1961 as a 240 foot tall…read moreobservation tower. It was possible to get to the top and have unparalleled 40 mile panoramic views of Highlands County and Central Florida. The dream of Earnest Oakley Hunt and Robert Gray, it is constructed of 100,000 concrete blocks which made it the tallest concrete block structure in the world at the time. In the late 1960s, the tower's name was changed to "The Happiness Tower" in order to lure people in, claiming visitors a state of bliss when looking out from the top of the tower. And at the same time, it was renamed the "Tower of Peace." The last owner to operate the tower as a tourist attraction owned it from 1992 until its closure in 2003. It is absolutely not open to the public. It's mostly abandoned though it functions as a cell phone tower. I'd have paid $10 or so for the view from the top. Bummer. [Review 455 of 2025 - 2098 in Florida - 24017 overall]

The Lake Placid Tower is a closed and abandoned gem of a bygone era. It completed in 1960 and…read moreopened in 1961. It closed in 2003 and continued life as a cell tower until 2019. It was abandoned in 2019. There are hopes that it might reopen but it's not likely it will. It retains a semblance of its original beauty but the structures at the base are in sad condition and are deteriorating. Since the tower is abandoned, I won't go into further detail but urge you to read Ariel W's review from 3 years ago for further information.

This marker sits quietly at the edge of the Isles Yacht Club parking lot, tucked between the modern…read moremarina and the curve of the Peace River, and it does a good job of reminding you that Punta Gorda's waterfront once looked very different. Before the canals, before the yacht slips, and long before the city became a boating community, this shoreline was the terminus of a railroad that pushed as far south as any tracks in the United States at the time. The Florida Southern Railway chose this spot because deep water came close to shore, making it one of the few places on the lower Gulf Coast where railcars and steamships could meet without elaborate dredging. The marker reads, "On this site, in 1887, ended the southernmost railroad trackage in the U.S. Florida Southern Railway's narrow-gauge tracks ran out on a 4,000 foot "Long Dock," where connections were made to New Orleans, Key West, and Havana steamers of the Morgan Line. Sailing schooners and paddle wheelers were a common sight. Governor Albert Waller Gilchrist, then a young civil engineer, was in charge of construction. The railroad was extended South in 1904." It is marker number F-114 and it was erected in 1964 by the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in cooperation with Punta Gorda Isles, Inc. Today the dock is long gone, but standing by the sign you can still imagine the clatter of railcars rolling out over the water and the steamers waiting to carry Punta Gorda's cargoes across the Gulf. [Review 111 of 2026 - 2232 in Florida - 25301 overall]