A Little Bit of History Then and Now: Sanibel, You've Got Mail!

In between the tiny tropical island of Sanibel and the even tinier upscale island of Captiva there lays a spit of land we affectionately call Santiva.  It has no official designation.  In fact, if you google the term, you will not really get a definition of Santiva.  There are few restaurants on what we call Santiva , it's a great place to fish and watch sunsets and it has become in more common use an easy way to collectively identify Sanibel and Captiva.

But once upon a time steam ships plied the Gulf Coast waters and were the life line for islanders. Among those visits were those made by a little boat called the Santiva.  It was the mail boat for both islands and the only way residents were able to stay in touch with family and friends through the written word. 

The Santiva mail boat was known to transport snakes, alligators , as well as monkeys to an organ for the Captiva Community Church.  It also brought in canvas for visiting artists. But its most frequent usage was to ferry both travelers and mail to the islands. 

Island communities, commerce and culture owe much to that special boat, which was put to work in commercial mackerel fishing after the Sanibel causeway was built.

And now, a replica of Santiva's interior forms the Captiva Island Historical Society's new, little gem of a museum gallery that shares knowledge gleaned from the more than 3,000 documents the society has scanned and digitized to date.

The society spent about $140,000 in privately raised funds on the museum-in-a-boat, designed and installed by Wilderness Graphics of Tallahassee.

The components were built in North Florida, hauled down in a 27-foot van. "They reconstructed it like a Lego set," said Jim Pigott, historical society chairman of the board.
Boat dimensions were scaled down to fit snugly into a 13 1/2-by-20-foot room at the Captiva Memorial Library. The library, along with the neighboring community center, was renovated and enlarged over the past year creating a welcoming space for all.

Step inside the museum alcove and soak in the sights: Photo wallpaper shows Roosevelt Channel and Buck Key from the bow and Pine Island Sound from the stern.

Peruse a series of maps starting with a replica from the 1850s to one from the present.
Sit on the replica engine cover and look into side windows framing exhibits. One is a touch screen that offers words and photos about hurricanes, erosion, insects and conservation.

Another window touch screen serves up a who's who of 20th century celebs who spent time on Captiva, including artists J.N. "Ding" Darling, Robert Rauschenberg  and Roy Lichtenstein, writers Thornton Wilder and Anne Morrow Lindbergh as well as Minnesota philanthropist Alice O'Brien  .

There are no exhibits with sound: The historical society wanted to respect the library environment. It would take about an hour's visit to catch all of the content in the space. Because it encompasses one room only, the society prefers to call it a gallery, rather than a museum.

Captions are focused and lean. Some of the most charming narratives come through a flip-ring of laminated local postcards, whose backs were filled out by long-ago travelers such as this Philadelphia guest at 'Tween Waters Inn:
"This is a lovely little island ... Nothing to do but fish, bathe and collect seashells."

It was heaven then, and despite the years and growth, it is heaven now.