Chokoloskee, FL

Chokoloskee sits on Chokoloskee Island at the edge of the Ten Thousand Islands, opposite the mouth of the Turner River and connected by causeway to Everglades City. People lived on the island for at least 1,500 years before European explorers recorded it; the present settlement reaches back to 1874. Water shaped everything: for decades, mail and supplies came by boat, and the island's relationship to the mainland was measured by channels, bays, and the short connection to Everglades City rather than by a regular road network.

ATTRolekinderhook / CC BY 3.0

Smallwood Store is the place that makes that past legible. Ted Smallwood opened a trading post in 1906, built the stilted store that remains in 1917, and served as postmaster for pioneers and Seminole residents. The building is now a museum with original fixtures and a National Register of Historic Places listing, with boat tours reaching into the island's backcountry. Chokoloskee is an island settlement whose everyday map still starts with the water, the store, and the bridge back to the mainland.