Randell Research Center and Calusa Heritage Trail on Agenda for Tomorrow’s GPICA Meeting
Please join us for the next meeting of the Greater Pine Island Civic Association, scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, April 2. This month, we will be featuring the Randell Research Center and Calusa Heritage Trail in Pineland. Our speaker will be Annisa Karim, Coordinator of Programs and Services.
The Randell Research Center (RRC) is a program of the
Docent Kevin Lollar gives a tour of the Randell Research Center’s Calusa Heritage Trail in Pineland. (Photo©Frankie Frost)
Florida Museum of Natural History, which has conducted research and education programs in Southwest Florida since 1983. The RRC was created in 1996 when Patricia and Donald Randell donated more than 53 acres of the Pineland archaeological site to the University of Florida Foundation.
The property includes the Calusa Heritage Trail, which showcases the native Calusa, who, for hundreds of years were the most powerful indigenous people of South Florida. The name of the Calusa capital was Calos, which means “fierce people.” All other South Florida native groups — the Mayaimi around Lake Okeechobee, the Ais at Cape Canaveral, the Jobe, Jeaga and Tequesta along the east coast, and the Guarugunbe in the Keys — paid tribute to the Calusa in the form of food, animal hides, plunder from shipwrecks and captive people. On the trail, you can learn about the history of this settlement and its people.
- What: April GPICA Meeting
- When: 6:30 p.m. Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 2
- Where: First Baptist Church of Pine Island, 5363 Ave. D, Bokeelia, 33922, located next to Pine Island Elementary School.