I arrived early for an appointment and had an hour to spare so I thought I would stop by Koreshan Historic Park. This was the site of the Koreshan Unity Settlement started in 1880 by Dr. Cyrus Teed. The objective was to have a utopian community. On the site was a printing facility, boat works, cement works, sawmill, bakery, store and hostelry. Education, science and art were very important to them and still today plays and musicals are held in the elaborate Victoian gardens. The original Koreshans numbered 200 at one time but have since died out, their firm belief in celbacy probably had a lot to do with that, and the site is now maintained by the Florida State Parks.

One of the things I thought was most interesting was that they believed that the entire universe existed wuth a giant hollow sphere. They conducted experiments that they believed confirmed this.

Victorian bridge leading to Monkey Puzzle Island

Looking down at the Estero River Planetary Court, home to the Planetary Council, 7 women, who represented the 7 planets of the zodiac and ran the Unity's affairsDamkholer cottage, typical Florida Cracker cabin