Useppa Island Site

About this property

Useppa Island is an island located near the northern end of Pine Island Sound in Lee County, Florida, United States. It has been known for luxury resorts since the late 19th century, and it is currently the home of the private Useppa Island Club. On May 21, 1996, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, due to its archaeological significance. In the early 1830s the island was variously called Caldez's Island, Toampe, and Joseffa. Records indicate that José Caldez, who had operated a fishing rancho on the island, called it Josepha's when he sold it in 1833. The name Useppa first appeared on a hydrological chart of the area in 1855. Like the nearby islands of Gasparilla, Sanibel, and Captiva, a folk etymology has developed connecting Useppa Island's name to the legendary pirate captain José Gaspar, also known as Gasparilla. A local folk story, extant in at least two versions, tells of Gaspar kidnapping a Spanish princess, with whom he becomes enamored. When she spurns his advances he kills her, but is overtaken by remorse and buries her himself on the beach. One version identifies the princess as Josefa, daughter of Martín de Mayorga, Viceroy of New Spain from 1779 to 1782, and indicates that her burial place of Useppa Island still bears her name in an altered form. Useppa Island is 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) long north to south, and up to 1⁄2 mile (0.80 kilometres) wide. A ridge, up to 18 feet (5.5 metres) high, runs along much of the eastern edge of the island. A ridge up to 40 feet (12 m) high is in the middle of the island along the western side. A 9-metre-tall (30-foot) conical shell midden with ramps is located on the west side of the island towards the southern end. The southern end of the island may have grown by as much as 500 metres (1,600 feet) during the 20th century, possibly when a golf course was developed there. The island was part of the Florida mainland during the last glacial period, when the sea level around Florida was 100 metres (330 feet) or more lower than today. Useppa Island is high ground that became separated from the mainland by a rising sea level around 4500 BCE. This high ground is believed to be stabilized sand dunes formed during a high sea level episode prior to the last glacial episode. During the period from 4500 BCE to 3000 BCE barrier islands formed to the west of Useppa Island, creating Pine Island Sound and protecting Useppa Island from the open Gulf of Mexico. Before Useppa Island separated from the mainland, the area was visited by Paleo-Indians, who were present in Florida by at least 8,000 BCE. Soon after the sea level had risen enough to separate the island from the mainland, around 4500 BCE, Indians of the Archaic period began living on the island for part of the year, primarily during the spring and summer. Oyster shells were deposited in middens from this time. Tools made from seashells during the period from 4500 BCE to 3000 BCE show a cultural affinity with Horr's Island to the south.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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