it has been a while since I have posted

so

having just returned from a 4 day camping trip

in a most amazing spot, I will tell you all about it

does the word Koreshan mean anything to you?

I had never heard of it until I visited my parent's in Estero, Florida

15 years ago

at the corner of one of the main streets sat a huge track of undeveloped land

The Koreshan State Historic Site

it was right on the Estero River and several years ago we had rented kayaks there and

paddled out to the Gulf of Mexico

here is a photo of the Estero River

and here is a site map of the park

the area to the right, west of US 41 is the old settlement

Dr. Cyrus Teed, in 1870, when he was 30 years old

had what he called an "illumination"

several universal truths were reveled to him and formed the tenets

of Koreshan Universology

(Koresh was Hebrew for Cyrus....)

He first tried to set up a Koreshan enclave in New York, several locations

didn't take

then he was invited to Chicago, they loved him

the Koreshan Unity was founded upon the ideas of communal property and communal living

everyone working for the good of all, Utopia, the "New Jerusalem"

by 1893, 123 people lived in an old manor house in Chicago

their belief and lifestyle were not understood or tolerated and persecution followed

them - it's hard to be different

In 1894, the Estero branch of the Koreshan Unity was founded

and by 1903, all of the Chicago members had moved down

this is the Gustave Damkohler cottage

Gustave owned the 360 acres that became the Koreshan settlement

he joined the group and the first summer 4 people lived in this house

1895  no air conditioning, hell no fans!  no screens

hard to imagine

he was there more than 10 years before the Koreshans!!

anyway

here is the Founder's house

when he was alive they called it the Master's House....

nice inside - they were from Chicago

the Doc himself

by 1903 the community had grown to almost 200

this building called the Planetary Court was built in 1904

it housed the 7 woman who managed the Unity

there were 8 rooms, 7 bedrooms and one meeting room

inside was a really beautiful hand carved stairway, with matching bench beneath

wow, 1904

there were no roads to Estero in 1904, they had to haul supplies by boat

to the mouth of the river and then up steam a few miles

they planted a lot of bamboo given them by Thomas Edison

who had a winter home in the Fort Myers area

there is this huge bamboo all over the site now

they also, with his influence, had the first power plant in southwest Florida

in addition to a huge bakery, machine shop, store and river transport business
and large garden

by 1906 the community was starting to decline

they were not popular with the locals

and in October of 1906 Dr. Teed was severely beaten up by a local politician

and the town marshal

he was never the same and died 2 years later at 66 years old

and a group is never the same when the leader is gone

story goes that the first core group, kept the Unity operational as long as they could

in 1940, a woman named Hedwig Michel fled nazi germany

long story short, she ended up at Koreshan

in fact, she became the last Koreshan

when she came there was only about 35 older people left

she got the store going, shocked the old timers when she had a toilet

put in the planetary court

gradually as the old ones died out, she realized her dream in 1960

that the settlement become a state park with the stipulation that the historic site

be open to the public and that she be allowed to live on the site until her death

which she did

she died in 1982, having celebrate her 90th birthday

she is the only Koreshen buried on the settlement

and the last koreshen standing

the campsites are about a mile from the historic settlement

yellow pin was my campsite

I love camping and I had a great spot under the palms

view from the tent

the first morning I got up early and walked to the settlement

it was so quiet and peaceful - no one else was there

I spent a couple hours wandering around with the ghosts of Koreshan

and I thanked them for saving this spot
this eden in the surrounding development
(Google the place - you will see the wall to wall developments that surrounds it)

I thanked them
that I could roam that magical place they had created
while needing to be in Estero to help my mother
that this oasis is under 2 miles to my parent's house

thank you