For a break from the outdoors, don't miss this small museum run by volunteers who have a wealth of knowledge on the region's history. Located in the town's former laundry house, the collection delves into human settlement in the area from the early pioneers of the 1800s to the boom days of the 1920s and its tragic moments (Hurricane Donna devastated the town in 1960), and subsequent transformation into the quiet backwater of today.
The most important player here is Barron Collier, Florida's largest landowner of the early 20th century, who essentially created the town from scratch to serve as the base for building the ambitious Tamiami Trail through the Everglades (completed in 1929). Photographs, models and films tell the story of this engineering marvel, as well as what life was like for the early settlers, the workers and the wealthy developers.