The city of Marco Island, Florida is located on the island of the same name, off the coast from Naples on Floridas southwest coast in the Gulf of Mexico and makes up the northernmost point of the Ten Thousand Islands.
The island itself boasts miles of white beaches, plenty of sun as well as high quality real estate and top notch restaurants and shopping all amid a sub-tropical environment.
The first inhabitants of Marco Island were the Native American tribe known as the Calusa, who may well have been the descendents of the Mayans. These peoples built massive mounds out of sea shells to protect themselves from hurricanes. Unfortunately, these peoples were wiped out by disease in the 1700s.
The island was settled in 1870 by W. T. Collier and his family. W. T.'s son opened a hotel in 1896 that still stands today as the Olde Marco Inn. In 1922 the island was purchased by Barron Collier, who was not related to the original Colliers that had settled the island.
Due to the arrival of the Great Depression, development of the island was delayed until 1962 when the Mackle brothers purchased the island and set about developing it. If not for Elliot, Robert and Frank Jr. the island may never have been developed.
Today, Marco Island is a vacationer's paradise. Aside from the nearly six miles of beaches and over 100 miles of waterways. Being in the subtropical zone, Marco Island has clearly defined wet and dry seasons with most rainfall occurring between June and October. During the winter months, the islands population swells by as much as 20,000.
Homes and property on Marco Island tend to be upper-scale, and commercial interests on the city reflect this greater amount of prosperity with top notch, upper-scale restaurants and shopping.
No trip to Marco Island would be complete without a visit to Tirgertail Beach. Once you park in the mangrove-lined parking areas, you can travel down one of 5 boardwalks to the white sandy beaches. Once there, you can look out over the Gulf of Mexico and see the famous Sand Dollar Island, a nesting place for many birds including several endangered species. Many of these birds, such as ibis and sandpipers, feed in the waters between Tirgertail and Sand Dollar, making this a bird watcher's paradise.
If you need to unwind in a beautiful paradise-like environment and want to experience the good life of upper-end restaurants and shopping, you can't go wrong with Marco Island!
