Tamiami Trail
When the Tamiami Trail connecting Naples with Miami first opened in 1928, it was considered an awe inspiring feat of human engineering and control over nature, but environmental advocates today lament...
View ArticleBlue Totems
In her best-selling book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo proposes a simple test to help people de-clutter their lives. Hold an object in your hand...
View ArticlePetrichor
In consideration of the factors that create one’s sense of place, it can be easy to overlook one powerful characteristic: the smells. In this week’s encore essay from News-Press story teller Amy...
View ArticleSmells of North River Road
Following another sweltering subtropical summer, this week’s breezy and slightly cooler weather has been a reprieve prompting some locals to give the air conditioning a break and open up the windows....
View ArticleThe Herring Gull
This week’s offering from News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams takes us back to her days studying anthropology at the University of Illinois before she’d fallen in love with Southwest Florida....
View ArticleThe Great Horned Owl
In his seminal work, “The Immense Journey,” author and anthropologist Loren Eiseley penned the often cited quote: “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in the water.” That sentiment is...
View ArticleVulture Treasures
Florida is home to turkey vultures and black vultures, both of which are a common site in our skyscape riding a wind updraft in search of carrion it can smell out from up to a mile away. While these...
View ArticleHoliday Swamp Walk
The holidays are upon us and for many Southwest Florida residents, that means preparing for visits from friends and family as our region’s mild winter temperatures make a great escape for our friends...
View ArticleRattle Snake
News-Press story-teller Amy Bennett Williams regularly brings us tales of her encounters with the wildlife of Southwest Florida that also call this region home. Such encounters often inspire curiosity,...
View ArticleA Century Old SW Florida Holiday Message
In this week’s essay from News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams, she takes us back in time more than a hundred years for a glimpse at life in Southwest Florida as reported in the pages of the...
View ArticleCapt. Nicholas Armeda
With Christmas just two days away, family and togetherness are prominent themes and thoughts for many as they prepare to celebrate the holiday. Despite the festive cheer of the holiday season, it can...
View ArticleBougainvillea
A new year is almost upon us. For many it’s a time of retrospection and reevaluation that so often leads the tradition of making new year’s resolutions. Getting in shape, saving more money or dropping...
View ArticleHeavy in the Bag
It’s a sensation most of us are all too familiar with: that sense of being overwhelmed by the tasks and responsibilities on our plates, and feeling guilty over things we haven’t gotten to, or that...
View ArticleSheman Legend
Newspress storyteller Amy Bennett Williams has an avid interest in Southwest Florida history…particularly the stories you’ll hear told by the region’s old-timers. But this week’s encore essay involving...
View ArticleWild Bill Belvin
In last week’s essay from News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams we heard an unusual story of local folklore about the Caloosahatchee Sheman who, legend has it, roamed the wooded areas along the...
View ArticleHats
Hendry County may be a sparsely populated and mostly rural region, but it also holds a wealth of historic markers. In this week’s encore essay, News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams takes us to...
View ArticleGoodland
The village of Goodland in Collier County is marked as the official site where Hurricane Wilma made Florida landfall during the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic Hurricane season. However, News-Press...
View ArticleEstero Bay Preserve State Park
Long-time listeners and readers of News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams are well aware of her passion for Southwest Florida’s wild spaces. In today’s essay, Williams’ takes us along for a couple...
View ArticleDunbar Easter Parade Founder Evelyn Sams Canady
This Sunday marks the Easter Holiday and here in Southwest Florida residents are gearing up for a long-held tradition in Fort Myers that today attracts tens of thousands of people: The Dunbar Easter...
View ArticleConfederate Memorial Day
Next Wednesday will mark Confederate Memorial Day in Florida. The holiday recognizes the roughly 258,000 Confederate soldiers who died in the line of duty during the American Civil War. That’s prompted...
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