Images of America: Along the Caloosahatchee River, written by Amy Bennett Williams, chronicles the life of the singular waterway that joins the heart of Southwest Florida to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.
Its description on Amazon.com reads:
Flowing 75 westerly miles from Florida’s Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico, the historic Caloosahatchee River has always been critically important to the region it traverses. As it makes its way past farm fields, quiet hamlets, and urban downtowns, manatees graze in its warm shallows, bass lurk in its shaded oxbows, and alligators sun on its banks.
Over the years, the river has attracted luminaries as well as colorful characters. Thomas Edison had a Caloosahatchee riverfront home, as did Henry Ford and telegrapher George Shulz, who created Florida’s tarpon-fishing industry.
Without the Caloosahatchee, the Southwest Florida that people know today would not exist. Without people, however, the river known as the Caloosahatchee would not exist either, since it was human effort and engineering that connected the river to the lake and made it navigable ― changes that sometimes spelled disaster.
Richly illustrated with historical images and observations, it’s a must-read for any Florida History aficionado. To order the book, click here!
