@Ochopee/Everglades via Alligator Alley

The Florida Everglades are a unique ecosystem and cultural setting.  This website is your guide through the past, present, and future of the Florida Everglades. Humans were living in the Florida Everglades area as long as 15,000 years ago. Two major tribes - the Calusa Indians and the Tequesta Indians - lived as hunter-gatherers on the edges of the rich Florida Everglades ecosystems.
There may have been about 4,000 to 7,000 Calusa at their peak. The Tequesta were much smaller in number and occupied a smaller territory. The Calusa were the largest and most powerful tribe in Florida, and lived in 50 settlements from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf in Southwest Florida and the Florida Keys. (see the full history on Florida Back Roads Travel)
                     
                                         - - - - - - -  personal notes & photos - - - - - - - - -
Travel to Key West involved taking the opportunity to travel via Alligator Alley with Eddie. Much of the road was open - fields of sugar cane, wild reeds, fenced swamps although we did pass several communities (none I particularly we remember). I do recall some history of the sugar cane industry (by Eddie) and struggles with phosphorus. The route provided a real opportunity to see another part of Florida such as the smallest Post Office in America, Clyde Butcher Gallery in Ochopee and the historic Smallwood General Store. 

Photo Ops:

• Clyde Butcher Galley
• Smallwood General Store - interior and exterior
• Ochopee Post Office

Resources:
Wiki ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everglades
Wiki ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochopee,_Florida
Ochopee ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochopee,_Florida
Restoration of the Everglades ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_of_the_Everglades
Smallwood General Store - Website
Clyde Butcher - Gallery