Marco Pioneers Were Sweet on Mangoes

Marco Islanders are currently enjoying the fruits of peak mango season with mango trees throughout the island bearing fruit at a dizzying pace. Neighbors are showing up for tennis matches, card games, and at worksites with bags full of tree-ripened beauties for their appreciative friends. While peak mango season on the island is June through July, some varieties ripen in May, and late bloomers often stretch into August and September. And while many things have changed over the decades on the island, the annual mango harvest has been going on for generations. To learn more about the mango culture from bygone days, we reached out to two of our favorite Pioneer Era Marco Islanders, the Dickerson sisters, Annette Dickerson Tindol (born in November 1938), and Faye Dickerson Brown (born in January 1942). The sisters were born on the island to Vergie and Wiley Dickerson. 

"To the newcomer on Marco Island, there doesn't appear to be much of a change of season,” Brown said. “But to local people it is more noticeable. Growing up in Marco in the 1940s we noticed all kind of seasons. We had fish season, clam season, oyster season, turtle season, tamarind season and the greatest season for all the kids growing up on the Island was called mango season. We named them all ourselves.”

Tindol remembers many of the names.

“We had the apple mango,” Tindol said. "The Haden were not as sour before they started ripening. We had a turpentine mango. Some of them mama and different ones on the island named. Like the Johnson mango were the ones the Johnsons raised on their old place. We loved them. Mangoes were free for any to pick through the 1950s on Marco. There were deserted home places there with great trees.”

"I can still recall some of the names of the mangoes that we picked from the Olds farm,” Brown said. "My dad would always tell us each name as we picked them. Some of the larger fruit were called Sandersha. I believe we kids called them sandyshaw. And a Cecil, Hayden, apple, and turpentine. There were a few trees at the graveyard. They were turpentine. I believe the trees at the Otter’s place were all apple mangoes. Gladys Otter was my first, second, and third grade teacher. She was the best there was. She would give us a mango as a prize for doing good work on drawing contests. We all wanted to win a mango.

"We knew those who came before us left the many trees for our convenience. Those were the Barfields, Ludlows, Horrs, Olds, Eubanks, Walkers, and Sam Williams. I am probably leaving a few out, but these are the ones that I can recall being mentioned while I was growing up on Marco. I know of many who hunted mangoes during the season. We usually put a number three galvanized wash tub in my parents' car, or sometimes my dad's jalopy, and drive to the center of the island to the Olds family's old plantation and pick as many as our family could use without them going bad. My parents pretty much knew who else would be coming out to this particular grove to help themselves to free mangoes for the picking. Some families would go by boat to the Eubanks' place or to Horr's Island to pick. Others living close to Henderson Creek chose to pick at the old Sam Williams place. Daddy would always caution us not to pick more than we could use because others were coming. He’d also tell us to let the green mangoes ripen. We picked a few green ones because us kids loved to eat them with salt.”

“We ate as many green ones as we did the ripe ones,” Tindol laughs. "Oh, we all loved green ones. We'd go sit in the tree and eat them. They were syrupy. Those mangoes got you sticky. They were sour. Kind of like eating a ripe lemon.” 

"The Ludlow family had planted a couple of mango trees in their yard that later became the Scripp's school house,” Brown said. "As soon as those young mangoes were large enough to even think of eating, the school kids wanted to eat them. It was a school rule that the mangoes were not to be picked. Some kids couldn't resist the temptation."

Tindol said that mangoes weren’t merely a treat for Pioneer Era Marco Islanders; they were a staple of their summer diet.

 "I'm sure there were some that didn't like them or care for them,” she said, "but for most of us it was part of our food plan. I mean, everybody ate from the island.”

Tindol said the kids would often eat ripe mangoes right out of their hands.

"Sometimes mama would cut them up and give us a little dish of them,” she said. "But most of the time we ate them off the seed. We’d eat them like a peach. Just peel them and eat them with the juice running down our arms and all over our face. As I grew up I knew better than to make such a mess that I had to clean up.”

"I remember the first time that I ever heard of someone making a pie from mangoes,” Brown said. "I thought it such a waste. We seemed to never get our fill of eating the fresh fruit and thought it such a shame to cook it. Since then I have made mango pies myself,” she said with a laugh.

So next time a friend or co-worker offers you a mango, thank them and realize that you’re carrying on a Marco tradition. And maybe tip your cap to those who came before you, like the Barfields, the Ludlows, and even the Dickerson girls.