{"id":343904,"date":"2026-07-17T21:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343904\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T21:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:31:13","slug":"mound-house-artifact-preservation-center-unlocking-secrets-to-islands-ancient-calusa-history-fort-myers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343904\/","title":{"rendered":"Mound House artifact preservation center unlocking secrets to island\u2019s ancient Calusa history – FORT MYERS"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n \/Fort Myers Beach News
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\n Historic property on Fort Myers Beach is home to hundreds of years of history <\/p>\n

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Mound House Museum Registrar Breanna Vaccaro examines a boat anchor that was believed to be used by the Calusa hundreds of years ago on the Mound House property. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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Mound House Museum Registrar Breanna Vaccaro has been tasked with going through thousands of artifacts that were found on the grounds of the Mound House during excavations more than 20 years ago.\n<\/p>\n

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The land deed from President William McKinley to Robert Gilbert, authorizing the transfer of land that includes the Mound House and more than 170 acres around present day Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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Mound House Museum Registrar Breanna Vaccaro examines a boat anchor that was believed to be used by the Calusa hundreds of years ago on the Mound House property. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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These ceramics, dating back hundreds of years, were found on the Mound House property during excavations that started in 2002. They are on display at the Mound House museum on Fort Myers Beach.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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Many of the artifacts that were excavated around the Mound House property in 2002, have remained in the same bags, a concern that Mound House Museum Registrar Breanna Vaccaro wants to address.<\/p>\n

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The land deed from President William McKinley in 1898 to Robert Gilbert, authorizing the transfer of land that includes the Mound House and more than 170 acres around present day Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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These ceramics, dating back hundreds of years, were found on the Mound House property during excavations that started in 2002. They are on display at the Mound House museum on Fort Myers Beach.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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Many of the artifacts that were excavated around the Mound House property in 2002, have remained in the same bags, a concern that Mound House Museum Registrar Breanna Vaccaro wants to address.<\/p>\n

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After Hurricane Ian, many of the artifacts found at the Mound House, were transferred from the Town Hall to storage units in bank boxes. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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The Mound House docks are open to the public daily on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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The Mound House museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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An osprey attends to her chicks on a nest near the Mound House property on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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An osprey attends to her two chicks on a nest near the Mound House property on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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The Mound House on Fort Myers Beach, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The oldest house on Fort Myers Beach, it sits atop a Calusa shell mound believed to be nearly 2,000 years old. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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The Mound House property on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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The Mound House on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg<\/p>\n

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The truth is, nobody knows exactly what is or all that was found underneath the Mound House during excavations that began in 2002 after the Town of Fort Myers Beach acquired the property where the town\u2019s oldest home, and the ancient Calusa shell mound sit.<\/p>\n

For Mound House Museum Registrar Breanna Vaccaro, the artifact preservation center at the Mound House is a critical tool she hopes will unveil secrets about the Native American tribe that dominated this region for centuries until disappearing in the 18th century after fighting the Spanish and being decimated by disease. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is a learning experience,\u201d Vaccaro said. \u201cThat is why I love what I do. Every day I learn something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Town of Fort Myers Beach, which operates the Mound House, began work on the public preservation center in December of 2024 in order to preserve and research thousands of artifacts that were found around the property during excavations that began in 2002. Many of the artifacts date to the time that the Calusa tribe were present in the areas. The preservation center opened last year.<\/p>\n

The preservation center is the only public archaeological lab in Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the first and only public archaeology lab in Southwest Florida,\u201d said Vaccaro, who started working . \u201cIt\u2019s a really unique opportunity for the public to learn more about the fields of archaeology and collections management and get first-hand experience looking at the collection that we have at the Mound House.\u201d<\/p>\n

The preservation center is on the second floor of the Mound House, in the retrofitted bathroom originally built in 1921. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very proud of it. A lot of work has been done since it opened,\u201d Vaccaro said. \u201cI am really excited for the public to be able to come and see what we have to offer in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaccaro said the collection storage facility is rare because it is within a retrofitted 1921 home and museum. Folks who visit the Mound House Museum can still see the preservation center through a window as they tour the museum. In the meantime, Vaccaro is hard at work cataloging the collection with other volunteers and preparing them to be shown in the museum. <\/p>\n

The Mound House has undergone several renovations since being constructed in 1909. After the town acquired the property, the home was refurnished to reflect the period in which it was built.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the Mound House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud to have that designation,\u201d Vaccaro said. <\/p>\n

The artifacts at the preservation center range from shell tools to pottery and ancient Calusa canoe anchors, Vaccaro said. The artifacts and documents possessions held at the Mound House also include the original deed from President William McKinley for 200 acres of land around the site that was given to the Gilbert family.<\/p>\n

The Mound House sits atop an ancient Calusa shell mound that was believed to have been constructed about 2,000 years ago. The Calusa are believed to have begun building settlements around the land a few hundred years later and maintained a presence there for more than a millennium. The underground shell mound site was closed after Hurricane Ian, reopened about a year later and then was closed again after flooding from Hurricane Milton.<\/p>\n

Vaccaro has a master\u2019s degree in public history and museum studies, and a bachelor\u2019s degree in anthropology from the University of West Georgia. She did her graduate research interning at the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park and prehistoric Native American site in Georgia. <\/p>\n

Since starting with the Town of Fort Myers Beach at the Mound House in 2024, she has been studying Calusa history. \u201cLearning about the Calusa, was a whole new avenue for me,\u201d Vaccaro said. \u201cIt\u2019s fascinating to get to know this culture that dominated Southwest Florida for 2,000 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shell mound that the Calusa built underneath where the Mound House sits, is loosely believed to have been constructed sometime about 2,000 years ago, give or take a few hundred years. The Mound House area was considered a satellite village for the Calusa. The main village was at Mound Key. The burial grounds for the Calusa was around Pine Island. No human remains were found anywhere around the Mound House during the excavations.<\/p>\n

The shell mound was essentially a trash pile, which largely included shells, to construct a mound that they could work off of. \u201cAs their needs changed. they kept going higher and started building up the mound,\u201d Vaccarosaid. The shell mound and Mound House property is approximately 2.7 acres. <\/p>\n

One of Vaccaro\u2019s first tasks since being hired in 2024 was to bring the town\u2019s collection of artifacts from the excavations, into the Mound House. Before Hurricane Ian, they were stored at Town Hall. After Hurricane Ian wrecked the Town Hall, they were put into storage units and into a bank vault, in dozens of bank boxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just chaos,\u201d Vaccaro said. \u201cThe collection had not been processed and catalogued.\u201d Vaccaro said that many of the original catalogs that detailed what was found during the excavations more than 20 years ago, were missing.<\/p>\n

Vaccaro said she has been working on cataloging the collection. She put up metal shelves to help organize all of the bags of ceramics, pottery, tools, and other artifacts that were found around the Mound House during the excavations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am basically a detective,\u201d Vaccaro said. Her job is to go through the items and compare them to existing notes that are in catalogs or identified in other documents, or on the bags themselves, to understand what some of the artifacts are. Some of the catalogs on file were not made by the original archaeologists who found them and worked on them, but were updated later. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the old catalogs, I would have the names of the archaeologists and more identification,\u201d Vaccaro said. \u201cI still have so much to go through.\u201d She spends a lot of her time researching. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly just growing the collection that having the supplies necessary to take care of the collections,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some of the more common items found are shells, pottery, glass, and the vertebrae of fish. There are thousands of items for Vaccaro to go through.<\/p>\n

Some of what was found is hundreds of years old, though some is more modern such as glass from the late 1800\u2019s and early 1900\u2019s that belonged to the former residents of the Mound House. Others who may have traversed the area around the Mount House before the home was built included Cubans and Spanish fishermen in the 19th century.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting finds for Vaccaro was a large boat anchor, which she believes is hundreds of years old, and could potentially be as much as 600 years old. She believes the Calusa likely used the anchor for one of their boats. \u201cThey used giant shells as anchors,\u201d Vaccaro said. \u201cThe Calusa used shells in everything they did.\u201d They also used hammers, aces and spears.<\/p>\n

Vaccaro would like to put the boat anchor on display.<\/p>\n

Another old object that has been documented is a pine that is estimated to be 1,400 years old.<\/p>\n

The most historic document in the collection is a land deed from President William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States. The deed grants 171 acres to Robert Gilbert which includes what would become the Mound House property.<\/p>\n

McKinley didn\u2019t personally sign the document, though his hand was written in script by an aide or secretary, in two sections of the document.<\/p>\n

The 171 acres was eventually divided up.<\/p>\n

The Long family renovated the property in the 1950\u2019s and built a swimming pool on the grounds. That pool was removed as part of the archaeological digs, and the restoration to its 1921 look.<\/p>\n

Not everything at the Mound House museum was excavated there. There are some pieces, such as ceramics and artifacts, which were brought in from other places to show other culturally relevant objects of the Calusa. The museum gallery includes replica masks of the type that the Calusa used to wear. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a generational project,\u201d Vaccaro said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are making significant progress,\u201d Vaccaro said. <\/p>\n

The biggest obstacles to progress, she said, include space demands, limited funding and staff. <\/p>\n

Some of the needs Vaccaro has are for materials, supplies, boxes, polyethylene bags, acid-free tissue paper, acid-free boxes, and artifact trays to cleanly study the objects.<\/p>\n

The new bags are needed, to replace old bags that will start to deteriorate over time. The artifacts can also crack or disintegrate if not taken care of properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese artifacts have been in the original bags since 2002,\u201d Vaccaro said. New, clean bags with new labels are needed about every four years, she said said. <\/p>\n

The Mound House is supported by the Town of Fort Myers Beach and the nonprofit Friends of the Mound House.<\/p>\n

Ellen Vaughan, chief fundraiser for the Friends of the Mound House and a past president, has high hopes for Vaccaro and her work. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a few years for her to get through all of the collections,\u201d Vaughan said. Vaughan said it was important that all of the artifacts get catalogued. \u201cI am very excited for the Mound House to enter this new chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaccaro said she has a \u201creally great support system\u201d that includes Museum Manager Karina Britez, and Visitors Services Coordinator Sandra Britez. <\/p>\n

Vaccaro is also aided by volunteers. \u201cI have wonderful volunteers and students who visit,\u201d to help, Vaccaro said. They include students from Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Southwestern State College. \u201cWe are always looking for volunteers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Town of Fort Myers Beach has still not reopened the shell mound underneath the home. The shell mound used to be open for tours but has been closed since water incursions during Hurricane Milton in 2024.<\/p>\n

Tours of the new preservation center, on the second floor of the Mound House Museum, are held every Saturday at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

The Mound House museum also offers activities for children, such as decorating and drawing Calusa masks on the second floor.<\/p>\n

In November, there will a celebration of the anniversary of the Mound House museum opening. The Mound House grounds are open daily, though the museum\u2019s house are Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are available upon request. The Mound House is located at 451 Connecticut Street on Fort Myers Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am excited to see what we find here and what we can do with this collection,\u201d Vaccaro said. \u201cI just need time and support.\u201d<\/p>\n


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