Was a good place to fish at after dusk and you have baitfish around and in the summer you'd have…read moresnook and tarpon at night . However after Hurricane Ian this Pier has been boarded off from being accessed. No mention of what the status is with it coming back or anything my fear is they likely won't be and that's because some restaurants were effected by the Hurricane Ian as well and being sold to have something else built also they're focusing more on stuff to catering tourists than anglers. I'm sure there is debris in the water by the Pier as well so that's possibly another reason.

Underneath the tall Matanzas Bridge, you'll find this concrete fishing pier that extends about…read morehalfway out into the pier. Only about six feet wide, there's enough room for people on both sides if the fishermen and fisherwomen alternate and when I was here, they were doing that. There is one on the "mainland" side and another on the Fort Myers Beach side. I was on the mainland side today where I found a small free parking lot. The pier is not handicapped accessible as there are a few tall steps to get up to it. A few folks were catching but most were not. But it looked like a friendly spot and in the high afternoon, the pier is shaded from the sun. [Review 13360 overall, 678 of 2020.]

Great experience even though they were closed…read more Why? Cause their Saturday pickup isn't until 2 pm and my post cards will actually go out in the mail today. Woohoo. There's a large lot out front for convenient parking. And also some outside mailboxes to drop outgoing mail in. But the doors still opened for an inside drop and access to mail boxes.

Mother nature is fickle but it was great to find this Post office still standing in its original…read morelocation and still fully functional after hurricane Ian washed over the island. This location still has one of the few remaining drive up mail boxes working too.

As a railfan it was a happy surprise to discover Locomotive 143 outside of the Railroad Museum of…read moreSouth Florida in Lakes Park in Ft Myers. In 1904 the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was the first railroad to serve the Ft. Myers area. Locomotive 0-6-0 Class E-4 #143 was part of a large order placed by the railroad to Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA. The locomotive was used to switch freight cars in rail yards around Charleston, South Carolina. In 1944, #143 was sold to the American Agricultural and Chemical Company of Pierce, FL. They used it for phosphate mining industry around Mulberry. In 1959 it was retired from service and placed on display outside the Company's office. Eventually the locomotive was donated to the Tampa Bay Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. and moved to San Antonio, FL. In 1979, it was donated to a private citizen and moved to Tampa. Locomotive was in danger of being scraped but it was saved by the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum and relocated to the Railroad Museum of South Florida at the Lakes Park and Gulf Railroad Train Village in 1995. In 199 restoration work began in phases by Great Atlantic Boiler Services of Jacksonville, FL and was completed April 2001.Check out this fascinating piece of rail road history the next time you are in the area.

It's a govenment bulding, what can I say? I went to vote early.read more

Visiting friends and made this stop to pay tribute. This is an incredible free historical…read moreremembrance and is worth the time to visit while in Cape Coral. The facts and events are provided in the signage and various items at the site.

If you have ever visited Cape Coral it is likely you have seen this majestic memorial to the United…read moreStates Marine Corps. You can find the Iwo Jima Monument also known as the U. S. Marine Corps War Memorial as soon as you cross the Midpoint Memorial Bridge that connects Fort Myers to Cape Coral. It resides on the southern edge of Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve. Iwo Jima is a small island located 660 miles south of Tokyo. During WWII it was the site of a fierce 36 day battle between the United States and Japan. The monument is a 20-foot statue that depicts five Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman raising the American flag on 560-foot Mount Suribachi, the highest point on Iwo Jima during the American victory over Japan in WWII. The statue is one of three originals that were created by sculptor Felix de Weldon. He was moved to create the sculpture after viewing AP photographer Joe Rosenthal's Pulitizer Prize-winning picture of the actual flag raising that took place on February 19, 1945. After creating the mock up for the sculpture, he shared it with then Vice President Harry Truman. In September 1954 the same statue was installed outside the Arlington National Cemetery on the southern shores of the Potomac River. The Cape Coral monument created in 1964 is one third the size of the one in Arlington Cemetery. The Iwo Jima Monument is made out of concrete pouted over rebar and steel. It depicts Pfc. Rene A. Gagnon, Pfc. Ira Hayes, Pharmacist Mate Second Class John Bradley, Pfc. Harlon Block, Sergeant Mike Strank and Pfc. Franklin Sously. Block, Strank and Sously died within days of the flag raising in combat on the IJM 5 northern end of the island. De Weldon sculpted them using their photographs and measurements. Hayes was was wounded but survived a mortar attack. Also surviving were Gagnon and Bradley. The monument stands in tribute to all Marines who have died in action since 1777. The Cape Coral Monument was commissioned by Gulf American Corporation for the Rose Garden, Cape Coral's first tourist attraction. Julius and Leonard Rosen who owned the Gulf American Corporation were the developers for Cape Coral. The Rose Garden had 40,000 rose bushes, animals, statues, landscaping, and shows to attract people to visit and hopefully buy homes in Cape Coral. The attraction closed in 1970 and the statues including the Iwo Jima Monument were left abandoned. A bank took possession and hired noted local sculptor D.J. Wilkins to restore it. In 1998, the statue was moved to its permanent home in the Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve. Wilkins and his team did another extensive restoration on the statue on 2011 after it was damaged by Hurricane Charley in 2004. The monument was re-dedicated on February 25, 2012, the first Saturday following the 67th anniversary of the actual flag raising on February 19, 1945. In front of the monument is historic marker F-836 erected in 2014 by The City of Cape Coral and the Florida Department of State. Today the statue is in like new condition and is a source of pride for the veterans and those who honor them in the community.

Line was hundreds of people long. Don't suggest voting after work. Add people doing U turns and…read morepulling out into the crowd of people standing in line to vote, not great. No employees outside to monitor the ginormous line of people. Line moved fairly quickly. Some people were up front as you entered the building promoting certain candidates or asking people to request special paper ballots. They were not permitted past certain points. It was a nice night so not to bad standing in line but if it was rainy or windy , not so much. Employees inside were efficient and things went smoothly. Next time I will definitely come earlier so I don't have to stand in line for An hour and a half. Oh. and someone just was soliciting us to sign a petition, when there is clearly a sign that says no soliciting past this point. They really need someone outside to monitor this and the safety of voters standing in a busy parking lot in the limited lighting. Sherriff showed up as I was leaving so things seemed to get better. I would add the people inside were super nice and moved things along but one poll worker told me they did not anticipate the massive crowds so they were understaffed...They did well, considering...

Deadline to request Vote-by-Mail Ballot to be mailed is 5pm…read moreSaturday, October 29. Call Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office or visit website to request ballot.I successfully called (239) 533-8683. Alternatively, website has scan code which saves snail mail time. Deadline to return ballot is 7pm, November 8. Returnig ballot in mail requires sufficient time for USPS to deliver. The address listed is for the South Fort Myers Election Center. This is one of the twelve voting locations in Lee County. Voting dates and times are 10/24/22-11/7/22: 9am-6pm and Election Day 11/8/22 7am-7pm. Overall could have been better.

Hailey I give her more than five stars…read more We went on vacation two weeks ago i boughta coffee cup that I loved from one of the stores and it got broke while flying home. Hailey was so nice and helpful to take time out of her busy schedule and go to a couple stores and find me another one. I am forever grateful of her.

I enjoy reading about history and on a recent trip to Fort Myers I learned about the 2nd United…read moreStates Colored Infantry, a regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was created by the Bureau of Colored Troops and was authorized by United States War Department on May 22, 1863. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers. The 1989 movie Glory was a historical war drama based on a similar fictional African-American regiment. The 2nd U.S. Colored Infantry was organized in Arlington, Virginia from June 20 through November 11, 1863 for a three-year service. The regiment of around 900 men arrived in Key West on February 22, 1864 as replacements for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. They experienced hostility from many of the locals. The unit established a regimental headquarters and was encamped at Fort Taylor, under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Gulf. The unit was then assigned to the Department of Florida until January 1866. The 2nd U.S. Colored Infantry mustered out of service January 5, 1866. During service the regiment lost 173 men. I discovered this memorial in Centennial Park in downtown Ft. Myers which features several memorials as well as art work. The memorial is known as Clayton because it is made out of a ton of clay then cast in bronze. The 9 foot tall memorial was created by local sculptor DJ Wilkins who also created Uncommon Friends, an art piece that is a tribute to the friendship of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone, located a few feet away in the park. He also created many other art works displayed in downtown Fort Myers. The 2nd U.S. Colored Infantry memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1998. it features a 66,000-pound bronze sergeant standing in front of an open gate within a wall. The soldier is framed by two granite plaques mounted on each wall. The plaque on the left is a description of the important contributions of the USCT during the Battle of Fort Myers. The plaque on the right contains a poem, In Freedom Cover Me by D.J. Wilkins. The memorial was placed in the park in honor of the regiments service on February 20, 1865 when Confederates of the 1st Battalion, Florida Special Cavalry attacked Fort Myers to steal cattle and destroy the military fort. The Confederates engaged in a cannon duel with the 2nd USCT in charge of artillery. The New York Times reported that "the colored soldiers at Fort Myers were in the thick of the fight. Unconscious of danger, their constant cry was to get at them." Confederate forces were forced to withdraw at nightfall having failed to accomplish their mission. The Battle of Fort Myers marked the final action of the 2nd USCT in South Florida. Companies D and I left Fort Myers in March of 1865 and Fort Myers was then decommissioned, The USCT is credited with having freed and enlisted over 1,000 enslaved people in Florida.