Big Cypress National Preserve
South Florida hosts four national parks; authors James A. Kushlan and Kirsten Hines have created pictorial history books for three and now it’s time for the fourth. This is the story of the largest cypress forest in the world, protecting such famed species as the ghost orchid and Florida panther. It was home to early Indigenous Peoples and remains the lands of Miccosukee and Seminole tribes. It is the story of backwoods settlers who logged, farmed, hunted, and smuggled, of cattle ranching, agriculture, and the development of communities with colorful histories such as Everglades City, Chokoloskee, and Immokalee, which persist today, and Pinecrest, Ochopee, and Jerome, now ghost towns. It is the story of building the crossing roads of Tamiami Trail and Alligator Alley and ensuing efforts to restore water flow to preserve the Big Cypress Swamp and nearby Everglades. It is the story of Big Cypress National Preserve’s creation through the efforts of such notables as Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Nathaniel Reed. It is the story of a preserve larger than Rhode Island that has just celebrated its 50th anniversary. It will be published by Arcadia Publishing in their Images of America series in late 2025.
