
Closing access to Smallwood Store.
On Thursday, April 14, the south end of Mamie Street in Chokoloskee was bulldozed and a chain-linked fence was installed around the property leading to the Smallwood Museum. Gregg Griffin, general contractor for the owner FL-GA Grove LLP, stated that he had received all the permits needed to develop a marina which will include building a dock, a launch-assisted boat ramp, and a seawall.
On Friday, April 15, the old Blue Heron motel was also demolished along with the only road leading to the Smallwood’s. When asked if they had notified the Museum or residents living along Mamie Street of this action, Mr. Griffin said “no” and that if they had given them advance notice, then they would have been stopped by an injunction. He said that their decision to act at this time was based on the Army Corps of Engineers’ intent to deny use of the Calusa Drive as an access road to Smallwood’s. Calusa Drive is a private road to residential homes with a walking pathway through the wetlands leading to what is left of Mamie Street.
According to Mr. Griffin, the Army Corps said that as long as there was an alternate road to Smallwood’s (Mamie Street), then there was no need for Calusa to be the access road. So, FL-GA Grove decided to remove the “alternate”

Teds’s Smallwood store. SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Besides ignoring all the historic and archaeological significance of Chokoloskee and the 105-year old Smallwood Store that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, FL-GA Grove LLP has essentially “closed down” this not-for-profit store which derives all of its revenue from entrance fees and gift shop sales. Four employees on this small island are out of their jobs, and the hundreds of tourists who visit this Museum every week are denied access. Director of the Museum Lynn McMillin

Entrance to Historic Smallwood Store.
The private property owners on the other road in question (Calusa Drive) purchased and built their homes with the knowledge that Calusa Drive would remain private. Now they are being faced with the possibility that their quiet neighborhood will be the major thoroughfare for a commercial enterprise that has over 150 people a day (in the slow season) visiting a very popular historic site. Their unpaved dirt road would have to meet current county road standards, would have to be widened and 100-year old trees cut down. Even the pioneer cemetery of the Santini family will be disturbed.
It’s unfortunate that developers who come into Collier County do not try to work amicably with the residents and long time

The road is completely gone.
We have a community (which means a “social group…whose members reside in a specific locality…and often has a common cultural and historical heritage”). Developers coming here won’t fit into a “community” when they bulldoze first, then talk. Why can’t they just be kind and work things out for the mutual good of all? We’ve lost a lot through the years with urban sprawl; that’s why so many people cherish the Everglades area, the old Florida lifestyle, because we still maintain that neighborly love. Where is the love, y’all?
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