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Tuesday 9am - 4pm Wednesday 9am - 4pm Thursday 9am - 4pm Friday 9am - 4pm Saturday 9am - 4pm

Marco Island Historical Society

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Marco Island Historical Society

Open Tuesday - Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Marco Island Historical Society is a non-profit 501c3 organization founded in 1994. to 4:00 p.m.
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We are dedicated to discovery, research, acquisition and preservation of the multi-faceted history of the Marco Island- Goodland region and to educating and informing the community and visitors of our dynamic heritage. Partnering with Collier County Museums, the Marco Island Historical Museum and complex was created in 2010. Collier County Museum's newest addition explores Southwest Florida's Calu

sa Indians and brings this vanished civilization to life with informative displays and an exciting recreated village. Temporary and traveling exhibits trace the settlement of this subtropical island paradise from its early pioneer roots as a fishing village, pineapple plantation and clam cannery, through its explosive growth and development in the 1960s by the Miami-based Deltona Corporation. Admission to the museum is FREE and open Tuesday - Saturday 9:00 a.m. The Museum Gift Shop is fully equipped with local and regional historical books, artwork, jewelry, clothing and more! The Gift Shop's is open Tuesday- Saturday 10-4. The museum complex is also home to The Rose History Auditorium.

09/07/2026

The Marco Island Historical Society and Museum offices are closed today in observance of Labor Day. Our offices will reopen tomorrow, Tuesday, September 8th, from 9 AM to 4 PM.

📸 Men working on the construction of a bridge. April 24, 1965. Gift of Janice Brewer. MIHS 2015-14-048.

09/06/2026

📚 Celebrate Read a Book Day with a little history! 📚

For Read a Book Day, we’re sharing 6 must-read books for every history lover—from the fascinating story of Marco Island’s famous Key Marco Cat to the people, places, and events that shaped Florida’s past.

Add one (or all six!) to your reading list:

📖 The Nine Lives of Florida’s Famous Key Marco Cat — Austin J. Bell
📖 Images of America: Marco Island — Austin J. Bell & the Marco Island Historical Society
📖 Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State — T. D. Allman
📖 The Florida Journals of Frank Hamilton Cushing — Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series
📖 A Land Remembered — Patrick D. Smith
📖 Images of Modern America: Marco Island — Austin J. Bell, Kaitlin Romey & the Marco Island Historical Society

Whether you’re fascinated by Marco Island history, Florida history, archaeology, or the stories of those who came before us, there’s something here for you.

🛍️ Best of all, all six books are available in the Marco Island Historical Museum Gift Store! Stop by and find your next great read today. Plus, every purchase directly supports the work of the Marco Island Historical Society to preserve and share our community’s history!

📍 Marco Island Historical Museum - 180 S Heathwood Dr., Marco Island
🛍️ Gift Store Hours: Tuesday–Saturday | 10 AM–3:30 PM

Which one would you pick up first? 📚

09/05/2026

💙 Since 1994, the Marco Island Historical Society has worked to safeguard the people, places, and moments that have shaped our community.

On International Day of Charity, we celebrate the generosity that makes this work possible—and invite you to be part of its future.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, MIHS depends on community support to preserve and share the history of Marco Island and the surrounding area.

Every photograph protected. Every artifact preserved. Every story documented. Every exhibit created. Every educational program shared.
All are made possible by people who believe our history is worth preserving.

Your gift today helps ensure that Marco Island’s history remains accessible, meaningful, and inspiring for generations to come.

Preserve the past. Inspire the future. Support local history.

👉 Make a gift today: https://apps.themihs.info/donate-now

📷: Olds Family Collection

09/03/2026

The first library on Marco Island was established by the Marco Island Woman's Club in 1968. The Marco Island Development Corporation donated the old Welcome Hut and had it relocated to the corner of Collier Boulevard and San Marco Road.

Janet Pettit was named head librarian of the 14 x 16 shack and trained 30 Woman's Club volunteers to run the library. Lovingly dubbed "the little library that could," the new oasis was open twice a week for three hours and initially housed 350 volumes. By 1973, the library grew to house 3,500 volumes, and a new library on Winterberry Drive (now the Collier County Tax Collector's Office) was constructed. In 1988, the current Heathwood Drive library opened.

📸 Marco Island Library photographed by Bryan Donaldson. November 10, 1972. MIHS 2016-01-2016.

09/02/2026

Aloha from Marco Island… circa 1968!

In 1968, the Marco Islander made her inaugural voyage—a colorful, Polynesian-style catamaran created especially for the growing Mackle-built community of Marco Island.

And she certainly knew how to make an entrance! The Marco Islander featured two 40-foot parallel canoe-shaped hulls, a 20-foot-wide platform, a thatched roof, colorful Polynesian-inspired panels, and perhaps her most memorable feature: two four-foot carved Hawaiian war canoe heads sweeping forward from the bow.🌴

With room for 24 seated passengers and eight standing, the Marco Islander offered sightseeing trips through Marco’s waterways, giving visitors a completely different view of the island.

A reproduction of that distinctive carved “Tiki head” from the Marco Islander is featured in the Marco Island Historical Museum, helping preserve the story of this wonderfully colorful chapter of Marco’s Mackle-era history.

Who remembers seeing—or even riding aboard—the Marco Islander? We’d love to hear your memories!

📷: The Marco Islander | Fall 1968 Issue

09/01/2026

There's nothing like putting pen to paper.

This World Letter Writing Day, we're sharing a letter from Violet Hanley to Bud Kirk, written on February 20, 1978. At the time, Hanley was a graduate student at the University of Michigan and had done some excavations at Goodland Point in the late 1940s. Part of the letter reads:

"Dear Mr. Kirk
Somewhere I have mislaid your full name and address – so I must trust that this will find you.
The archaeology department here at the U. of Mich. Is very much interested in the artifacts you loaned me for study and investigation and I am anxious for more definite information regarding them.
Do you recall just where you collected most of the stone ^ shell ^ and coral sinkers? Where?
Did you find the long slender slate-like implement in the shell mound you showed me? You might be interested to know that this is a very rare find and is probably made of argillyli [argil]. It is an exact duplicate in size and appearance to one shown in Moore’s report “Certain Antiquities of the Florida West Coast” Pub. – 1900 in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia 2nd Review Vol. X1 – part 3. This book has full size reproductions of nearly everything you so generously loaned me."

📸 Letter from Mrs. Stewart Hanley to Bud Kirk, dated February 20, 1978. MIHS 2017-01-1964A.

08/31/2026

We're headed to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary!

The gateway to the Western Everglades is located just 30 minutes northeast of Naples. The National Audubon Society was granted stewardship of 13,000 acres in 1954, making it one of the largest wetland systems in the world. The Sanctuary also protects the largest remaining cypress forest in the world. Due to its environmental significance, it is one of 41 sites in the U.S. designated as a Ramsar Convention Wetland of International Importance.

Visitors can explore the Sanctuary's 2.25-mile-long boardwalk, the Blair Visitor Center which features immersive exhibits, and participate in a wide selection of events and programs for all ages. Learn more by visiting the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary website: https://www.audubon.org/corkscrew.

📸: postcard of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, 1980. Photo by Harmon. Courtesy of Collier County Museums.

08/30/2026

🏖️ Happy National Beach Day! 🐚☀️

In 1975, noted outdoor writer Jack Spark captured the simple magic of Marco Island’s shoreline beautifully:

“’Tis said there’s a little bit of beachcomber in all of us.” "The rewards of sights and sounds are virtually limitless, and nature's spectrum here is as broad as the eye and the ear of the beholder."

From the sound of gentle waves to bare feet in the sand and the thrill of finding the perfect shell, some Marco Island traditions never change.

As Spark so perfectly concluded: “It’s all yours just for the walking.”

📸: Gene and Mary Sarazen doing exactly that—strolling Marco’s beach and collecting shells. "The Marco Islander," Fall 1975 issue.

08/28/2026

in 1972, the new Tommie Barfield Elementary School Opened!

375 students arrived at the new 12-classroom building, replacing the old 3-classroom building known as the Tommie Barfield annex. The school opened with 17 teachers led by principal Ken Faulkner and served kindergarten through 6th grade.

First through sixth grade attended classes from 8:15 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. Kindergarteners living on the island attended class from 8:15 to 11:00 A.M., while children living off the island attended Kindergarten from 12:00 to 2:30 P.M.

📸Black-and-white photographs of a Tommie Barfield Elementary school event, November 10, 1972. Photographed by Bryan Donaldson. MIHS 2016-01-2015.

08/27/2026

Nets were probably the most important fishing technology used by the Muspa and Calusa. Cordage for netting and lines could be made by twisting together the fiber of certain plants, including the cabbage palm. Netting allowed for large amounts of food to be collected at once, and there were several different styles. An individual in a canoe or near shore may have used a dip net, while lengthy seine nets could have been handled by large groups of people working together.⠀

that the best-known examples of Muspa or Calusa cordage were uncovered at the Key Marco site in 1896, on what is now Marco Island? Visit the Marco Island Historical Museum to see some of the net-making tools uncovered by Cushing and his team, which are on loan from the Florida Museum of Natural History.⠀
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📷: Calusa people fishing with nets and a catamaran. Artwork by Merald Clark © 2018.

Address

180 S Heathwood Drive
Marco Island, FL
34145

Opening Hours

Tuesday	9am - 4pm
Wednesday	9am - 4pm
Thursday	9am - 4pm
Friday	9am - 4pm
Saturday	9am - 4pm

Telephone

(239) 389-6447

Website

http://www.themihs.org/

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