I was invited by our Southeast/Southwest offices to head down to the Ten Thousand Islands to help make some videos highlighting the cultural and natural resources in the area.
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| Our motley FPAN crew: Becky (W Central), Rachael (SW), Jennifer and Ashely (SE), me (NE) and Sarah (SE)! |
After reading
Killing Mr. Watson during our summer book club, I was excited to see some of the places in the book. Sure enough, we got to see some of Watson's sugar mill equipment left at his old property, cruise past Rabbit Key where he was buried and stop into Ted Smallwood's store, the location of Mr. Watson's demise.
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| Pot left from Watson's sugar production, used to boil down the cane juice. |
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| Ted Smallwood's store on Chokoloskee Island, where Ed Watson was fatally shot by numerous residents of the area. |
We also took a stroll through Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park to check out the local swamp environment, home to the Seminole and probably many other native peoples. Most of the hike took us along a railroad bed and gave us a great look at restoration efforts after many years of cypress logging. But we also got to get our feet wet in the swamps.
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| Greetings from the Everglades! |
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| The trails can get a little wet... |
Stay tuned for some great videos from the trip!
A special thanks to our wonderful guides from
Everglades Area Tours for their wonderful guidance and knowledge of the area's history and environment!
Text and Images by Emily Jane Murray, FPAN Staff
