Koreshan State Park

“ Koreshan State Park is unlike anywhere else in Southwest Florida. On the surface it’s a pretty riverside park with shaded trails, bamboo groves, and open lawns. But walk a little further in, and you find yourself in the remnants of one of the strangest social experiments in Florida’s history.

The weathered buildings of the Koreshan Unity, a communal sect that settled here in the 1890s, still stand: the Planetary Court with its elegant symmetry, the machine shops, the printing house, even the bakery that once fed hundreds of residents.

Exploring the grounds feels at once beautiful and surreal. The Koreshans planted exotic species—bamboo, mango, eucalyptus—creating gardens that mix tropical Florida with a 19th-century idea of paradise, all alongside the Estero River.

Koreshan is a reminder that Florida’s history isn’t just beaches and retirees—it’s visionaries, dreamers, and communities bold enough to try something new. ”