Source

State Archives of Florida, Collection N2009-3

Description

Letter from author Marjory Stoneman Douglas to Hedwig Michel, president of the Koreshan Unity, praising the Koreshans for donating land in Estero to the state of Florida to become a state park.

Date

1961-11-19

Creator

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, 1890-1998

Format

Letters (correspondence)

Coverage

Postwar Florida (1945-1968)

Topic

Nature and Environment

Subjects

Bubbett, Laurie (Laurence Wilmer), 1884-1960
Christensen, Alfred P., 1878-1963
Donations (Legal property)
Koreshan Unity
Michel, Hedwig, 1892-1982
Newcomb, Vesta, 1878-1974
Parks -- Florida -- Lee County -- Estero
Schlender, Conrad, 1876-1965
State parks and reserves -- Florida -- Lee County -- Estero

Geographic Term

Coconut Grove (Miami, Fla.)
Miami-Dade County
Mound Key
Lee County
Koreshan State Historic Site
Estero

General Note

Dr. Cyrus R. Teed's utopian community of 200 followers began relocating from Chicago, Illinois to Florida in 1894. Dr. Teed took the name "Koresh," the Hebrew translation for Cyrus, meaning shepherd. The colonists believed that the entire universe existed within a giant, hollow sphere. The Koreshans built and operated a printing facility, boat works, cement works, sawmill, bakery, store and hostelry. After the death of Dr. Teed in 1908 at the age of 69, membership of his religious group began to decline. In 1961, the four remaining members deeded 305 acres of their land to the state of Florida as a park and memorial. The Koreshan Unity Settlement Historic District, a.k.a. Koreshan Unity State Park, was later added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Hedwig Michel was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 29, 1892. She became president of Koreshan Unity in 1960 upon the death of president Laurie Bubbett. She died on August 5, 1982 in Estero, Florida.