« Navigating Crab | Main | Lover's Key »
January 31, 2006
Koreshan State Park
In 1869, a doctor named Cyrus Teed claimed he had a “divine illumination.??? In his vision, Teed believed that all spiritual life was unfolded to him by a divine deity. Preaching his new religion, Teed and a group of followers eventually settled in Chicago. In 1894, Teed, who had taken the name “Koresh??? (Hebrew for Cyrus, meaning shepherd) moved his group to Florida with the hopes of building a settlement for the Koreshans. This settlement was to be the New Jerusalem.
Dr. Teed grew up in New York State where religion and social change were often discussed. He was a charismatic youth who was urged to become a minister, but decided on medicine instead. After seeing the inhumanity of the medical practice during the Civil War, he moved to the Utica area and turned to Alchemy in order to find a better method of healing. While working in his laboratory one night in 1869, he experienced a buzzing sensation in his brain and claimed to have been visited by a goddess who showed him the secrets of life, death, and the universe. He referred to this as his divine illumination, and began to seek followers. This caused him to lose many of his patients and he soon became known as The Crazy Doctor.
After some success in finding followers he moved to Chicago where he ran a printing press and advertised the beliefs of the Koreshan Unity and his church, which he called The Church Triumphant. Expecting his idea to catch on he began to look for an area that could accommodate 10,000,000 people, which brought him to Estero, Florida.
The Koreshan Unity was founded upon ideas of equality, communal living and property, the belief in Dr. Teed’s religious and scientific theories, and the communistic goal of everyone working for the good of all. It was to be Utopia, the “New Jerusalem???. It was a life without crime, tobacco or drugs.
There were two types of membership. Those who joined the Cooperative Order either brought shares in or worked in the Koreshan Unity industries. They could live outside the Settlement and maintain their family unit. Those who joined the Religious Order were celibate, required to live in the Unity Settlement, give their property to the Unity and work for the building of the New Jerusalem. Families that joined the Religious Order were split up and lived in separate residences.
To those who joined, the Koreshan Unity promised security, order and a sense of achievement. Economically, all needs were met and financial security was assured. Religiously, it was a return to Christianity as it was “meant to be.??? Socially, it provided cultural activities and entertainment. Educationally, it was designed to provide classic education with vocational training. Scientifically, it offered a Universe that was finite and understandable. Equity among the sexes was ordained and everyone had a job and place in life.
Those who came to Estero from Chicago in 1894, found it a test of their courage and ability. To leave the safe and comfortable life of a big city and begin a new order in a hot, humid, bug-infested wilderness is a chronicle of their faith in Dr. Teed and his teachings. The Koreshans brought their furnishings, books, even a grand piano. This was to be a permanent home.
The early Koreshans established the Home Grounds as the center of what would become the New Jerusalem. Below is Moses Weaver’s rendering of Cyrus Teed’s vision for the development of the Koreshan Unity. Along with Estero, this would have included current day Fort Myers Beach extending to Bonita Beach. Teed prophesized that the population of the city of the New Jerusalem would be ten million. Teed stated, “It is the purpose of the Koreshan Unity to inaugurate the construction of a great city. It is the preparation for the establishment of an industrial system, destined by revolution- not riotous, but peaceable, to extend throughout the world, and to have its center of operation in Estero.???
Although Dr. Teed believed he was immortal, he died in 1908 of a circulatory ailment at the age of 69. After his death, the membership of his religious group began to decline. In 1961, the four remaining members deeded 305 acres of their land to the State of Florida in Teed’s memory.
New Jerusalem
Big Bamboo
Mounds
Victorian Bridge
The Landscape and Gardens
“The city would embrace a system of formal gardens laid out in patterns of applied geometry, based on three elements: the arc, the chord and the radius; and the principle of centrality which corresponded to the Koreshan vision of the layered and centralized properties of the universe.???
The land was a wilderness in 1894. The gardens were laboriously carved out of thick mangroves, pine trees, scrub oaks and saw palmettos. Dr. Teed corresponded with other horticulturists, exchanging seeds and plants, and he was instrumental in the development of the gardens. The gardens are described in the 1902 settlement plans as planted with many fruit and nut trees and other kinds of plants which allude to biblical descriptions of Eden (Genesis 1:11-31).
The Hollow Globe
A major tenet of Koreshan belief was the theory of “cellular cosmogony???- living inside the earth. Teed reasoned that God would not create an infinite universe, for the infinite is beyond the reach of human understanding, and man could not comprehend it.
In 1870, Teed claimed to have discovered that the earth was a hollow sphere with all life contained in it. He said that the sun, moon, planets, and stars were just an illusion, as they are actually reflected up from the surface. Day and night were thought to be caused by a rotating ball of gases, at the center, sending a positive charge down the light side and reflecting a negative charge back to the dark side. This acted like an electric motor and kept the day and night cycle spinning.
The earth was said to have a diameter of 8,000 miles and a circumference of 25,000 miles with the concave surface bending upward at the rate of 128 inches every 4 1/3 miles. It was not possible to see from one side to the other across the sphere because the “3 atmospheres??? were too dense. The earth’s shell was supposedly one hundred miles thick and made up of 17 layers- 5 inner layers of geological strata, 5 mineral layers in the middle and 7 outer metallic layers.
The Rectilineator- can't see very well
The Koreshans had a “scientific??? instrument, fashioned in the form of a long T-square, made in order to attempt to prove that the Earth was a concave sphere. The name “rectilineator??? comes from rectus, meaning right and linea, for line. It consisted of three sections that the Koreshans set up on Naples Beach. Over a period of months, they “leapfrogged??? the sections down the beach leveling, measuring, and calculating. Their experiment supposedly proved that the land rose up to meet the horizon.
Their Scientific Theory States:
A straight line extended at right angles from a perpendicular post will meet the surface of the earth at a distance proportionate to the height of the perpendicular.
Damkohler's Cottage
This cottage was the only structure on the property at the time Dr. Teed arrived. The cottage was built by Gustav Damkohler, a German settler who homesteaded here in 1882. Shortly after he met and was converted by Dr. Teed, he donated the land on the Estero River to the Unity for its colony, convinced that Koreshanity was to become the “great religion???. When Dr. Teed finally arrived in January in 1894, with three other members, this house was used for living and dining.
View down to Bamboo Landing
View of river from Bamboo Landing
Steps leading up from Bamboo Landing
Bamboo Landing back in the day- one of those festival celebrations.
Bamboo Landing
The Bamboo Landing was important aesthetically and functionally. Before the construction of the Tamiami Trail (US 41) the Estero River was the main means of transportation, and a landing was necessary for both passengers and freight. It provided a formal framed entrance to the grounds from the river. The landing was used for concerts until the erection of the Art Hall and as a stage for the water pageant performed at the annual Solar Festival. The bamboo is said to have been brought as cuttings from the Ft. Myers estate of Thomas Alva Edison.
Founder’s House
This two-story building is also referred to as the Teed House and Children’s School for the various functions it served. Dr. Teed resided on the top floor, and the bottom floor was separated into three rooms. One was for the dentist, another was used as the schoolroom, and the third was the female co-leader Victoria Gratia’s residence. The building is the oldest surviving structure on the Settlement built by the Koreshans. This is the first of the Koreshan-built structures that used milled pine siding instead of logs, while pine shakes replaced the palmetto thatch roof.
Of all the Settlement structures, this building has had the most renovations and additions. The modification of 1909 involved the installation of the masonry veneer to the existing building and a plan to double its size. The Koreshans were proudly producing pre-cast concrete pieces for building and garden sculpture. This accomplishment was important in providing the presence of permanence and stability for the New Jerusalem.
Hedwig Michel Memorial
Mrs. Hedwig Michel was the last Koreshan to live at the Koreshan Settlement. Under her leadership the Koreshans donated 305 acres of their holdings to the Ste of Florida in 1961 as a “Gift to the People.??? Also donated were all remaining artifacts from the working Settlement, including tools, furniture, cooking instruments, paintings, and scientific devices.
Dinner Bell
The dinner bell marks the location of the original three-story dining hall. The upper floors were dormitories for the women and children. Once the tallest structure in Lee Country, is was condemned by the Fire Marshall and demolished in 1949.
Bakery
This building was constructed just to the west of the Dining Hall and could produce 500-600 loaves of bread per day for the members and to be sold in the Koreshan store. The second floor had four dormitory rooms, and, originally, bake ovens were connected to the south side of the building.
Vesta Newcomb Cottage
The Vesta Newcomb Cottage was originally located on Immokale Road and was owned by another Koreshan member, Lou Staton. In 1937, the house was moved to the north of the Koreshan Unity Library on the NE corner of US 41 and Corkscrew Road where Staton used it as his residence and a barbershop. In the 1940’s it was again moved into the Koreshan Unity Settlement, and Vesta moved in.
Neat Handles
Young Vesta
Vesta served the Koreshan Unity in many capacities. She was the personal maid to Victoria Gratia, teacher to the Koreshan school children, and operator of the linotype machine at the Guiding Star Publishing House. She also helped run the dining room kitchen, worked in the sawmill, and assisted in the laundry.
Lillian “Vesta??? Newcomb was born on Nov. 19, 1878 in Stockton, Ca. Lillian’s mother Harriet attended Koreshan Unity meetings at its San Francisco branch. After her husband’s death, in 1892, Hattie went to the Koreshan Unity in Chicago, bringing Lillian and her brother James. Two years later, Lillian left her mother and brother behind to be among the first Koreshans to moce to Estero. It was here that 16-year-old Lillian was dubbed “Vesta??? by Dr. Cyrus Teed.
When asked whether or not she really believed that she lived inside the earth, Vesta replied, “I did until the boys landed on the moon. When that happened, I knew it couldn’t possibly be true.???
Old Vesta
Large Machine Shop
This structure was built primarily to contain the steam power machinery that served the adjacent laundry. Some pieces of the equipment are evident, the crankshaft mounted in the ceiling provided power to the laundry. Several special tools and machines were designed and created here including “a marine gas engine which we contemplate manufacturing for our own use.???
From July 1916 until the end of August 1946 the Koreshans generated their own electricity. The first power source was a steam engine, which remained in service until June 12, 1925. At that time an 80 horsepower Fairbanks Morse Diesel Engine was purchased and installed. On August 29, 1946 the Florida Power and Light Company began service to Estero and the Fairbanks Morse Engine was sold to an ice plant in Venice, Florida.
The Koreshans did not supply electricity 24 hours a day. Just before they would turn it on or off, they would ring the dining hall bell to warn everyone.
Small Machine Shop
The bowed roof has a unique, curved shape and is particularly evident from the inside of the building. The workshop manufactured small and special tools and kitchen items and provided timepiece and shoe repair.
Electric Generator Building
Constructed in the early 1900’s this building eventually housed the electrical generating equipment for the Settlement. The equipment was purchased and shipped to the Koreshan Untiy from the north and was generating electricity to the buildings in the 1920’s. Eventually a more powerful Fairbanks-Morse diesel engine replaced the original steam engine. The Unity purchased the 80 HP Diesel Engine in June 1925 for $1932.00. It was in service until August 1946 when Florida Power & Light began servicing the area.
Planetary Court
The seven women who comprised the Planetary Chamber, the governing council of the Koreshan Unity, lived in this well designed, three-story house. Each person had a separate room which could be entered from the central stairway of tom the outside porches.
The exterior of this building, as seen in early photographs, appears to have been covered in heavy kraft paper, probably to eliminate drafts in the winter and protect against insects. Most of the furnishings in the Planetary Court were brought to the Settlement from Chicago. Day-to-day business of the Settlement was conducted by the sisters of the planetary court.
The women who lived in the Planetary Court were known as the Planets. Dr. Teed thought of himself as the Sun and held a solar festival on his birthday in October. Following the male/female aspect of his beliefs, he named Victoria Gratia as a co-leader; she represented the moon and a lunar festival was held on her birthday in April.
Art Hall
Function at the Art Hall
The Art Hall served as the center for cultural, social, educational and religious activities of the Koreshan Settlement. Built by the professors and students of the Koreshan Pioneer University, it is a testimony to their craft and skills. The decorative knee brackets add structural support while also being aesthetically pleasing. Theatrical productions, lectures and performances drew large audiences. The theatre presented plays of the time and of Koreshans’ own writing. Well-known productions, such as those by Shakespeare, were common. The Koreshan Orchestra performed popular and original works, with the majority of the music of a classical nature. The Marching Band played at the Settlement as well as throughout the area.
The Old Store: These steps were up to the original door of the old store, which faced the river, as that was the only route of travel. Eventually they added a door facing what is now Route 41.
View down the steps to the river
The Old Store Foundation- the steps face the road
Shell Paths
The use of shell paths throughout the settlement was both functional and aesthetic. The crushed shells reflected the light in the evening and made a firm walkway. Approaching footsteps could easily be heard. Aesthetically, the patterns of the silvery paths glowing in the moonlight made a nighttime composition dynamic with beauty.
Members Cottage
Typical of houses occupied by members.
Estero River
He even has a head rest!
Posted by Heather at January 31, 2006 06:55 PM
Comments
Happy Birthday
I that guy stiffs you like last year, I have a better deal for you, including the rent thing.
Nick
Posted by: Nick Maravell at March 31, 2006 03:43 PM