Pine Island

Most people react to the words ‘ Pine Island ’ by asking ‘what’s that?’ Because of this it has been nicknamed Florida ’s Forgotten Island . Being Forgotten is part of what has made it unique. It has no high-rise condos, no big hotels, no resorts, no theme parks. The tallest building on the Island is a private house and it has the lowest population density per square mile of any of Florida ’s large islands.

Part of this is because the island’s land-use plan has been written to try to keep it unspoilt. And part of it is because that plan links construction to how much traffic the island should accommodate. Pine Island has no traffic lights. And if there’s more than one car in front of you at the four-way stop you know it’s rush hour. If there’s ever more than two cars, at least one of them must be broken down.

This is an island where most of the land is given over to cattle, horses, citrus groves, palm plantations and even (at one time) an emu ranch. It is the only off-shore Florida Island still zoned primarily agricultural. It gives the place a unique feel; in the heart of the island you could be in central Florida , surrounded by tall pines and driving past grazing livestock. On the coast, you’re in the Keys, watching Sailboats pass and dolphins jump.

But the island is still only fifteen miles from the biggest Mall in Southwest Florida . It is this combination of easy access to facilities and complete seclusion that makes Pine Island such a nice place to stay.

The island’s heritage is based on seclusion and easy access to facilities. It was once the Heart of the Calusa Indian territory as it allowed them easy access to fishing, access to the barrier islands, yet also provided space, security and fresh water. The shell mounds left by the Calusa dot the barrier islands, but the biggest of them is on Pine Island and is now home to the Randall Research Centre. The RRC describes itself as ‘a permanent facility dedicated to learning and teaching the archaeology, history, and ecology of Southwest Florida . Situated in the scenic community of Pineland on the western shore of historic Pine Island, the RRC encompasses more than 50 acres at the heart of the Pineland archaeological site, a massive shell mound site extending across more than 200 acres from the mangrove coastline.

If the Florida you want to visit is the one where you share a beach with 8,000 other people, where drinks cost the same as college tuition, where everything is made of concrete and where music is a thing created by a DJ, Pine Island is not for you. If you want the Florida where you forget what day it is, where your biggest decision is where to eat lunch, where overcrowding happens at the pool because Egrets have come to visit and where the loudest sound you hear is crickets, then it’s perfect.