The Old Naples Historic District has a history of its own

There is no history here," remarked a newly transplanted City of Naples employee in 2007. "If the Historic District is ever de-listed, all we'll have to do is take down the signs."

HARRY & MARTHA BICKFORD / COURTESY PHOTO The Naples Hotel in the early 1940s, with staff housing to the left of the hotel. The site is where the Third Street South Farmers Market takes place every Saturday. Perhaps one of the most dangerous afflictions in our country and here in our own Collier County is a condition called cultural amnesia. Lavern Gaynor, Naples' First Lady of History, notes, "The faster we move in today's world, the faster we move away from who we are as a community and even as a country."

Mary Watkins, an expert in the history of Old Naples, echoes that sentiment. "This city and county is rich in history. It has characters with stories that are important to our community, and our history is totally unique to our area."

The characters to whom Mrs. Watkins refers were a group of investors from Kentucky who from 1887-1932 built a relatively small area of Naples for seasonal use — the area now called the Historic District in Old Naples. This precious area ranges from Ninth Avenue South to 13th Avenue South to the Gulf of Mexico to Third Street South. And although it has more stories than Carter has little liver pills, few people know about them.

Henry Watkins Sr., Mary's father-in-law, purchased The Naples Company in 1946, which included The Naples Hotel, and later that same year bought the clubhouse and golf course where the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Resort is today. She carefully notes, "We did not build the Naples Beach Club — we grew it." No doubt, they grew it with lots of love and care. Historic boundaries are a gem

On March 1987, Mayor Edwin Putzell, along with Naples City Council (of which today's Mayor Bill Barnett was a member) put forth Resolution 87-5225 supporting the application for a section of Old Naples to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This resolution was sent to the State of Florida and the United States of the Interior, and on Dec. 17 that year, the Historic District of Naples was officially placed, along with the Keewaydin Club, on the national register.

Just the facts, please

The following factoids about the Historic District are components that were submitted to the Florida Department of State Division of Historical Resources for review to gain an historic designation (a copy of the 1987 application can be viewed at the Naples Backyard History Mini-Museum):

. Architecturally significant to the area because of the native materials, such as oyster tabby oolitic limestone, that were used in bungalows and other homes with northern stylistic origins called Colonial Revival, Mediterranean Revival or Framed Vernacular.

. Developed first was The Naples Hotel, 200 yards from the beach.

. Paved streets of oyster shells were lined with royal palm trees transplanted from the Everglades.

. Isolated geographically until the railroads and the Tamiami Trail came in the late 1920s.

. Reflecting Florida's resort heritage, the structures are restrained, paralleling the tastes of Kentuckians and Ohioans.

. Recorded in 1775 by Bernard Roman, a prime archaeological site, a canal, ran northwest through the center of the district.

Historic honorable mentions

The city's Comprehensive Plan contains a line that has been there since the plan was formed in the late 1940s: "… protect the character and identity of our community."

While the city has yet to define what that means, some noteworthy citizens have taken it upon themselves to interpret this line and therefore honor Old Naples' character and identity: John and Suzanne Saltsman and sisters Dot and Debbie Wade.

The tale of these two sisters is manifested in a lovely structure we watched over the past year. Their charming yellow cottage is behind Ridgway Bar & Grill on the corner of Gordon Drive and 13th Avenue South. It's the one with the darling picket fence, a bridge to somewhere, and a stained-glass patio window that enchants all who shop at the Third Street Farmers Market every Saturday.

The Saltsmans — he's from Kentucky (where else?) and she's from North Carolina — have lovingly maintained the character of Sagamore House, their historic home built by N.P. Sloan at the corner of Gordon Drive and 14th Avenue South. When I called Mr. Saltsman, a former bridge builder, attorney and engineer, to inquire on the history of the home, he told me, "We are long on beliefs and short on facts. I'll get back to you."

The Sloan family also built Tecopa, the cottage at the corner of Gordon Drive and 12th Avenue South that's now owned by Paul and Eileen Arsenault, who are also proud caretakers of the oldest banyan tree in the city, fondly dubbed Beardy Banyan.

During May, Official History Month for the City of Naples, Naples Backyard History will host several lectures to enlighten all of us about the magic in the place we call home. We are delighted the Wade sisters and the Saltsmans have agreed to open their homes and share their stories with us.

So please stay tuned for more history of the Historic District.

Lois Bolin is the co-founder of Naples

Cultural Landscape, a fund at the Community

Foundation of Collier County. Naples Backyard

History is the fund's educational initiative.

For more information, visit the NBYH

Mini-Museum at 1300 Third St. S., call 594-

2978 or visit www.naplesbackyardhistory.org.