Downtown Fort Myers Trip

       Our class trip today took us to downtown Fort Myers. I have only been to Fort Myers a few times, but never to the downtown area where we were at today. We went over a lot of information and it was a bit overwhelming because there’s just so much history there that I had no idea about. The first place we started our tour was at the Farmer’s Market, which takes place every Thursday morning, under the bridge. My professor mentioned the word “localvore”, a term I’ve never heard of before. You can make sense of this word by knowing the meaning of herbivore and carnivore. A localvore is someone who consumes as much of their local food as they can. This can include fruits, vegetables, and other necessities. They had a variety of stands which caters to each person’s taste. There were pet treats, microgreen worm tea, flowers, fruit, vegetables, tropical fruit jars, homemade tomato sauce, BBQ , popcorn, local honey, and much more being sold. I found it neat because of the range of products they sold, as well as the affordable prices. This is also a great idea because those selling the products are making profit.

       The most interesting spot for me was at the fountain. There, we learned quite a bit about the Calusa people. They didn’t need jobs to support themselves because they would spend a couple of hours a day gathering fruits, vegetables, and fish. This helped to provide for their families and they didn’t have to work a long day. I learned that they were very artistic people, which I did not know before. Painting and being  creative is what they spent the rest of their day on. They were very religious as well.

       Along with the Calusa people, we talked about Thomas Edison and how he discovered Fort Myers. I thought this was interesting because I knew that he had invented the light bulb, but I was unaware that he found Fort Myers, too. He used to live up north, where he invented the light bulb. He used strips of bamboo fibers as a filament for the light bulb and that’s when he came to Fort Myers to find bamboo trees.

 

       The old buildings and the architecture of downtown Fort Myers reminds me of some areas in Georgia that I love to visit. It reminds me of a different time and a different attitude of the world and everything around us.

       All of the information we picked up on the way was intriguing and made the downtown Fort Myers area even more appealing to me. I did not know a lot of this before this trip and it opened my eyes to the environment and surroundings I have around me. It is definitely a trip I want to take again on my own time where I can explore further.

 

                                                                            Farmer's Market

                                                                             Fountain

Downtown Fort Myers

                                                                               Amazing site!