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 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]

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.

This marker is just south of the bridge as you enter Punta Gorda from Port Charlotte. There is…read moreparking nearby. It has the same text on both sides. It reads, "The Punta Gorda Bank was operating by June 1894 as a branch of the State Bank of Fort Meade. It was chartered by the state as a separate bank in July 1899, with a capital of $15,000 and Perry Wadsworth McAdow as president. McAdow had earned a fortune as the owner of the Spotted Horse gold mines in Fergus County, Montana, and decided to relocate to Punta Gorda after vacationing here with his wife. McAdow constructed a one-story, brick facade commercial building on this location to house the bank. The Punta Gorda Bank occupied the corner storefront, with Earnest Dry Goods, the Punta Gorda Trading Company, Wade's Drug Store and a community social hall known as McAdow Hall filling the remainder of the building. "By December 1912, the bank's assets had grown to $147,000, and a competing bank, The Merchant's Bank of Punta Gorda, opened in April of 1912. The Punta Gorda Bank underwent some years of uncertainty, and on April 23, 1917 was reorganized as the State Bank of Punta Gorda. The new bank assumed the deposits and liabilities of the old Punta Gorda Bank and was relocated to a new building." What the marker doesn't say outright is how deeply the McAdow family shaped the look and feel of early Punta Gorda. Perry Wadsworth McAdow arrived with serious wealth, but it was his wife, Clara, who left an equally lasting mark. She was an avid horticulturalist, and according to the Babcock Ranch historical timeline, she took it upon herself to beautify downtown Punta Gorda with plantings and landscaping that softened what had been a rough frontier town. There is no number on the marker. It was erected in 2008 by the Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners. [Review 1583 of 2025 - 2164 in Florida - 25133 overall]

It's hard work finding a historical marker in Florida that hasn't already been added to the Yelp…read moreuniverse by Ariel W. so I'm counting this one as a win. The marker is in front of the church and there is plenty of parking to stop and read it. On the front, "The town of Nocatee originated as a lumber manufacturing town during the 1880s. During the late 19th century. two businesses stimulated the town's growth. One was the King Lumber and Manufacturing Company, established by W.G. Welles in 1896. The second was the Nocatee Crate Lumber and Manufacturing Company, opened a few years later. The two businesses were next to each other west of the Florida Southern Railroad tracks and south of County Road 760/Welles Avenue. The Nocatee Crate Company eventually became the largest employer in Desoto County, which prompted the construction of many homes and businesses. The company's success due to the development of a packing crate that made it cheaper and was partly easier to ship fruits and vegetables to market. These "4-One" crates, built of wire wrapped around wood corners and veneer strips, were used throughout the U.S. The crates could be flattened and stacked, and their light weight reduced shipping costs and waste. Several buildings along the west side of U.S. 17 were constructed by the Nocatee Crate Company and rented to its employees. When the company closed, the homes were sold to the residents at auction." On the reverse, "The Nocatee Baptist Church (later known as the First Baptist Church of Nocatee) was organized around 1890, and held its early services in a local school under the pastorship of the Rev. T.J. Sparkman. In 1915, B.F. Welles, brother of Nocatee Crate Lumber and Manufacturing Company co-founder W. G. Welles, donated land for the construction of a brick church east of U.S. 17. The building used a Greek cross plan with a cross gable roof, Gothic style windows with Queen Anne colored glass, and a bell tower. The church held its first service in this new location in 1916. The church split temporarily in 1935 because of a controversial divide in the congregation, which was reunited by 1936. From 1949-1956, a new classroom building as well as a kitchen and recreation hall were constructed. Although the church was taken down in 2014, the Florida Department of Transportation assisted the congregation with salvaging the arched windows and bell. The top of the bell tower or cupola, was removed and relocated to the DeSoto County Historical Society property in Arcadia." This is marker number F-830 and it was erected in 2014 by the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Department of State. [Review 1579 of 2025 - 2160 in Florida - 25129 overall]

I spotted this bright black marker as I passed through the city of Arcadia. It is located in a…read moresmall park and there is some street parking. The historic district looks lovely and perhaps I will get to spend some time here. It reads, "The Arcadia Historic District comprises fifty-eight blocks within 340 acres that embody the city's development from the founding of its post office in 1883 through the late 1920s. The Town of Arcadia was incorporated in 1886 following the arrival of the first train that year and the area's subsequent growth. In November 1888, voters selected Arcadia as the county seat of DeSoto County, which was established in 1887. The City of Arcadia was incorporated in 1901. The heart of the district is a commercial zone extending 18 blocks and consisting of buildings constructed between 1900 and the late 1920s. Three buildings that survived the devastating 1905 downtown fire, and those that were rebuilt, are generally masonry vernacular in style. The district's most imposing structure is the 1912 Classical Revival courthouse. Residential neighborhoods of mostly frame vernacular homes from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries surround the commercial area. Listed on the National Register in 1984, the district retains remarkable historical and architectural integrity as reflected in its churches, residences, and schools, as well as commercial, governmental,and industrial buildings." [Review 12752 overall, 64 of 2020.]

The Columbus G. McLeod marker sits near the edge of Ponce de Leon Park, and even with the sky…read moreflattened into a dull gray the place still has that easy Punta Gorda rhythm where people wander in from the parking lot, the shoreline drifts along quietly, and the marker becomes a small pause in the middle of it all. The beach view was not doing much on an overcast day, but the park itself carries enough charm to make the stop worthwhile, and the marker's simple presentation fits the setting without trying to compete with anything around it. What struck me most was how McLeod's fight to protect Florida's plumed birds echoes the spirit called out on the Paul Kroegel statue over in Sebastian, another reminder that conservation in this state was built by stubborn, principled individuals who refused to look away. Reading the marker brings that same sense of early guardianship, the kind of work that shaped the wildlife we take for granted today, and standing there in the soft light of an overcast morning, it felt like a quiet tribute to someone who understood the cost of doing the right thing even when the world wasn't paying attention. The marker reads, "Many wading birds can be seen here, largely due to the sacrifice of men like Columbus G. McLeod (1848-1908), who gave his life trying to protect them from plume hunters. Ladies' hats with exotic bird feathers were high fashion for the late 1800's, and thousands of birds were slaughtered in Florida for their plumage. In 1901 the Audubon Society persuaded the state to adopt laws protecting Florida wildlife, especially plumage birds. Even so, no funds were allocated. The state, however, agreed to deputize two wardens hired by the Audubon Society. The danger of this work was evidenced when Guy M. Bradley, charged with protecting the Everglades area, was found shot to death near Flamingo on July 8, 1905. Columbus G. McLeod of Placida, charged with protecting to rookeries here in northern Charlotte Harbor, disappeared under suspicious circumstances and was presumed murdered on November 30, 1908. This second death of an Audubon warden sparked a national campaign against the wearing of feathers, and shifted public sentiment in favor of stronger enforcement of wildlife protection laws and the prosecution of plume hunters. Today we enjoy the beauty of our Florida wading birds largely because of these men." It is marker number F-552 and it was erected in 2004 by The Peace River Audubon Society and the Florida Department of State. [Review 108 of 2026 - 2229 in Florida - 25298 overall]

There is a historic marker in Ponce de Leon Park commemorating Columbus G. McLeod. At the turn of…read morethe century Florida's native bird population was being wiped out by plume hunters who were killing the birds for ladies hats. To help protect the birds that were on the verge of extinction, the National Audubon Society hired game wardens to patrol the rookeries and enforce state game laws. This job could be dangerous and Everglades Game Warden Guy M. Bradley was found murdered on July 8, 1905. Game Warden Columbus McLeod (1848-1908) was charged with protecting the breeding grounds of the birds of northern Charlotte Harbor. He is presumed to have been murdered during patrol in Lee County, Florida. It is believed that he was searching for egret hunters at Cayo Pelau Island when he disappeared. His boat was eventually located sunk with sand sacks tied to it and his hat was located nearby with two axe chips, blood, and hair on it but his body was never located. He was 63 at the time of his disappearance. Columbus G. McLeod Preserve in Ft. Myers was named in his honor. The death of the two game wardens shifted public opinion against wearing feathers and led to stronger wildlife protection laws. Thanks to the sacrifice of these two men along with countless others who patrolled and lobbied for laws to protect the birds we are still able to have native birds in the wild today. Although there is still not as many as were here in the late 1880's before hunting began, their number continues to grow every year.

2100th Review The…read moreCircus Bridge is no ordinary bridge although one wouldn't know it's historic significance by merely looking at it or even driving over it, it's played a huge part in the celebration each and every year in Venice for more than three decades as the animals from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey were unloaded from the circus train each winter and marched across this bridge, the crowds that gathered to watch cheered celebrating the end of a long season entertaining the masses with countless performances. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey wintered at the circus arena near the Venice airport which was finally demolished after years of attempts to preserve it in some way; the building's skeleton had remained in place long after the circus left the site behind in the early 1990s. But in its heyday, in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the arena welcomed thousands of spectators as well as top circus performers, who rehearsed their new shows here. For residents and visitors, the arrival of the circus train was a memorable highlight of each winter season. On January 14, 2017, it was announced that the circus will be closed forever in May 2017 after 146 years of bringing smiles to millions and will lay off more than 462 employees between March and May 2017. Declining attendance combined with high operating costs and loss of the elephants are among the reasons for closing. On May 7, 2017, its "Circus Extreme" tour will be shown for the last time in Providence, Rhode Island. The circus's last performance will be its "Out of This World" tour at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 21, 2017 and that my friend will be the end to maybe the grandest entertainment icon ever, but this bridge will remain and continue to be ghostly reminder of the past for those that witnessed it's grandeur at the end of each circus season that's until it too will become obsolete and replaced with a concrete span named after some politician who's grand kids will only read about "The Greatest Show on Earth" but never witness it's magic...