The Lee County coast was inhabited by tens of thousands of Calusa Indians in hundreds of fishing villages long before Columbus sailed to Hispaniola. They were a well organized, warlike people who built large pyramid shaped mounds, made pottery and engineered canals. The most accessible Calusa archeological sites are at the Randell Research Center  at Pineland on nearby Pine Island (accessible by car) and at Mound Key State Park accessible by private boat near Estero Island (Ft. Myers Beach).  

In 1513 Ponce De Leon probably landed on Pine Island as he searched for the Fountain of Youth, which is believed to be Warm Mineral Springs near North Port. Today you can discover one of America's top ten healing waters for yourself.  

The first Jesuit Mission in the New World was established on Mound Key in 1566, but was abandoned after violent clashes with the Calusa. 

The Spaniards brought diseases that annihilated the native population. During the centuries of Spanish dominion Southwest Florida was scarcely populated, visited for the most part by Cuban fishermen and pirates.  

Shortly after Florida became a United States territory an important battle of the Seminole Indian War was fought in Cape Coral, next to what is now the old Cape Coral Bridge. Nothing remains of the fort Ft. Myers was named for, once located where downtown Ft. Myers is today. 

The Museum of the Islands on Pine Island documents early settlers. 

An unusual moment in local history was the arrival of the Koreshan movement, led by Cyrus Reed Teed, a religious sect that believed that the earth is hollow and we live on the inside with the sun at the center. They moved to an area south if Ft. Myers in 1894 to build a New Jerusalem. The most incredible part of the story is that the Koreshans carefully surveyed a huge tract of land in the area that is indeed indented with a curvature that clearly demonstrated their theory. The Koreshan Settlement State Park documents their lifestyle and beliefs. 

The railroads brought the first real boom to Florida. One of the early lines, the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad (1907) ran to Gasparilla Island, just across Charlotte Harbor from Cape Coral. Gasparilla Island was (and is) a hideaway for millionaires; Ex-governor and ex-president Bush vacation there regularly. The island is accessible by car, crossing the Peace River between Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda, just north of Cape Coral. Trains no longer go to Gasparilla Island, but the train station has been restored, with a restaurant and shops. There are two historic lighthouses on the island. The railroad from Punta Gorda to Fort Myers was built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and opened in 1904. Trains still run to Ft. Myers: The Seminole Gulf Railway has regular freight service and organizes unique dinner and murder mystery tours. 

Ft. Myers was the winter home of many wealthy Americans around the turn of the century: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone all spent their winters here. The Edison and Ford estates form a single museum complex, so fitting as the two families were close friends. The museum includes the two homes with period furnishings and family memorabilia, Edison’s laboratory, a collection of antique cars and the tropical gardens surrounding the buildings.  

Cape Coral has its own historical museum, and the first homes built here in the 1950's have been declared a historic monument.