About EIHS
Estero Island Historic Society was established in 1991 to preserve the history of Fort Myers Beach. We are located at 161 Bay Road behind the Beach School and in front of the Matanzas Pass Preserve.
Our museum is housed on a 1921 cottage that once belonged to the Kim Davison family. This was one of the first cottages to be built on the island and was moved from the beach front at Mango Street to the present location in 1995.
In addition to the historic cottage, we have a Laughing Gull cottage on our campus as well. Built by Guy Smith in 1965, this was typical of the cottage courts that were popular in the 50s and 60s. This cottage, known as the "annex" is now being used by Ostego Bay Marine Science Center.
Our museum suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Ian and it has taken us two years to rebuild. We had seven feet on water in both buildings destroying many artifacts and records.
Today, we are gearing up to be open at least two days per week starting in January. We are selling the products on this page to support our mission and to recover the $60,000 we have spent on rebuilding after the hurricanes.
Estero Island Historic Society
We are in the process of rearranging our online store and will be adding new products soon and bringing back some of the other products we were selling.
Right now, take advantage of our Summer Sale on our two most popular items: the historic Afghans and the Lost Icons Book.
The Estero Island Historic Society is located in the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida. We are a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of our island.
We are located at 161 Bay Road on Fort Myers Beach.
Recently, our island was devistated by Hurricane Ian. Although our two historic cottages survived the storm, we most many artifacts and most of our archivves.
We are in the process of rebuilding and are raising money to pay for our restoration.
We have opened this online store because we can not sell our items locally since our buildings are not ready to be opened to the public yet
Davison Cottage
Our museum began as a cottage on the beach. It was destroyed by the 1944 Hurricane and rebuilt with original materials.
Moving on Up
The Davison family donated the cottage to the Historic Society and it was moved to our present location in the 1990s.
Before Ian
This is what out museum looked like before Ian.
After Ian
Although the buildings were still standing, the water was 7 feet high inside ruining many of our photos, books, and artifacts.
Saving Items
We tried to save what we could.