A few landmarks carry the early colony into the present. Historic Palm Cottage, built in 1895 of tabby mortar — a mix of lime, crushed shell, and beach sand — is the oldest house in Naples and today the home of the Naples Historical Society. Out past the edge of town, the gladesman country gave Naples its other identity: the Swamp Buggy Races, first run formally on November 12, 1949, when home-built marsh machines tore through the mud at the start of a tradition that still runs today. And after mid-century growth nearly buried the old main street, the 1990s brought a celebrated revival of Fifth Avenue South — a redesign that turned the historic town-to-pier street into one of the country's most admired walkable downtowns.
Our Naples logo carries Florida's alligator over "1845," the year of statehood and the shared emblem of every Merlin Classics Florida place. The alligator is the Everglades in shorthand — and Naples sits right at the gateway to the Everglades, the Ten Thousand Islands, and Big Cypress, where the gladesman frontier meets the Gulf-coast resort. Printed black-and-white with the worn look of an old crate label or a piece of marsh-camp signage, it reads as Old Florida. What makes this one Naples is the place behind it: the 1886 winter colony, the 1888 pier, the swamp buggy, and the home by the Gulf.
Why People Visit Naples Florida
Most people come to Naples for the beaches, the golf, and the Gulf sunsets — but the city rewards anyone who looks for the older layer underneath: a winter colony planted in 1886 and named for an Italian bay, a pier rebuilt through more than a century of hurricanes, and a frontier-grit swamp-buggy tradition at the edge of the Everglades. It's bright, warm, and welcoming, with its real history sitting quietly alongside the resort polish.
