A Naples Time Capsule

Jeff Lytle

In this big history year, with our country observing its 250th anniversary, a national time capsule is being readied. Planners are tasked with not only choosing the contents. They have to make sure the capsule, and whatever is in there, will last for the next two and a half centuries.

Which makes me wonder …

What would be in a Naples area time capsule? We could start with the Naples Pier rebuild. A scroll of the latest rendering would be instructional to compare with what actually got built. Concession stands or food trucks – or food carts? Would food be cooked on-site or prepared? Would fishing bait be sold? Answers to those niggling questions and more were taking longer than the years since destructive hurricanes to answer.

A joint map of Collier and Lee counties would show what the area was like before further consolidation into the single metro area it was becoming.

There could be a special booklet on Estero, whose niche in history would be demanding roads and utilities be in place before development while monitoring the quality of water, education, public safety and more. The secret sauce in the Estero story is that the good work is being carried out by motivated citizen volunteers rather than bureaucrats.

A good aerial photo of Naples Airport might come in handy when planes, like drones, start taking off and landing vertically, with little need for space-consuming runways. Thus, the airport could become smaller rather than larger… attracting developers eager for more land on the Gordon River and, don’t forget, proximity to downtown dining.

Room in our capsule should be reserved for another aerial photo, of the airport landing strip at the Collier-Dade border that was converted into a makeshift prison. People opening the capsule will want visual evidence that what they may have heard about naming that outpost Alligator Alcatraz and incarcerating people there – charged in court or not — were really true.

The last time the county did a time capsule, 1976, contents included a message from the then chairman of the Collier County Commission, Cliff Wenzel. He wondered about the fate of county growth and development rules designed to cap the population at 200,000 –a target surpassed long ago.

Other items in 1973 included three newspapers, various history books such as “South Florida’s Vanished People – Travels in the Homeland of the Ancient Calusa,” commemorative coins and the molds used to make them, and a list of babies born that year.

Other candidates for a 2026 time capsule:

• A tree
• A pickleball
• A model of the Golden Gate Parkway/Airport-Pulling Road flyover to compare with styles more like “The Jetsons” on subsequent, space-age interchanges.
• A copy of today’s county demographics, including data not usually discussed, about average wages; the usual media attention to household income includes money such as savings, pensions and dividends that was earned elsewhere. Big difference.

Meanwhile …

Publicity of discussion on Sanibel Island to employ sharpshooters to get rid of coyotes vandalizing beach sea turtle nests brings back a Marco Island memory.

There in the 1980s a group from a condo near Tigertail Beach plotted to get rid of weeds and bushes taking root on the beach. The condo commandos feared the plants getting unsightly and perhaps blocking their view of the Gulf. Their weapon of choice was Round-Up, and they talked of stealth spraying missions under the dark of night.

It turns out the strike force was not deployed, perhaps due to media coverage shining a light on the mission.

Jeff Lytle has covered and commented on the Naples area since1979. Contact him at jlytle1951@gmail.com