The 1936 Wonder Gardens era is the second chapter. Bill and Lester Piper opened their roadside attraction on Old 41 on February 22, 1936, as the Everglades Reptile Gardens; the name moved to the Everglades Wonder Gardens as the exhibits broadened, and the family ran it for three generations until 2013. The City of Bonita Springs bought the property in 2015 to keep it from commercial development, and a non-profit has operated it since on city-owned land. The Wonder Gardens — three and a half acres on Old 41 — is one of the oldest continuously operating roadside attractions in Florida, and the long banyan trees on the grounds are a Bonita signature. Hurricane Donna landed on Southwest Florida on September 10, 1960, and Hurricane Ian came ashore on September 28, 2022; the two storms are the defining storms of the modern Bonita era, and the city has rebuilt after both. Lovers Key, the four-barrier-island chain just north of Bonita Beach, was preserved as a Florida state park in 1983 after being saved from luxury condominium development. Barefoot Beach Preserve, just south of the city line in Collier County, runs two miles of natural Gulf shoreline north of Wiggins Pass under the Saylor Trail boardwalk. The City of Bonita Springs received the Preserve America Community designation in 2012.
Today Bonita Springs is, above everything, a coastal Southwest Florida river city: the Imperial River running through Riverside Park and Imperial River Park downtown, the 1926 Liles Hotel and the 1936 Wonder Gardens on Old 41, the Gulf shoreline of Bonita Beach at the western end of Bonita Beach Road, the four-island Lovers Key State Park between Estero Bay and the Gulf, and the Barefoot Beach Preserve dunes south of Wiggins Pass on the Naples side. Our Bonita designs are made for that geography — the city built by surveyors with maps, rebranded by Tennessee investors with new names, and that has carried the Imperial River and Old 41 through every decade since 1912.
Why People Visit Bonita Springs Florida
- Walk Riverside Park and Old 41 — the historic downtown corridor on the Imperial River, with the 1926 Liles Hotel housing the Bonita Springs Historical Society, the bandshell, and the original Cracker-style wooden-frame buildings that line the original Tamiami Trail spine through town.
- Visit the Everglades Wonder Gardens on Old 41 — the 1936 roadside attraction founded by brothers Bill and Lester Piper as the Everglades Reptile Gardens, now a non-profit on city-owned land with banyan trees, rescued reptiles and birds, and the original mid-century roadside-Florida signage. One of the oldest continuously operating roadside attractions in the state.
- Kayak the Imperial River from Imperial River Park — the kayak launch on the river inside the city, with shaded paths under the cypress and oaks and herons in the shallows.
- Walk Bonita Beach Park — the public Gulf shoreline at the western end of Bonita Beach Road, with shelling, sunset views, and dolphin sightings offshore.
- Walk Lovers Key State Park — the four-barrier-island state park between Estero Bay and the Gulf, with 2.5 miles of beach, 5 miles of multi-use trails through maritime hammock on Black Island, kayak and boat launches into Estero Bay, and a Discovery Center. The land was donated to Florida and preserved as a state park in 1983 after being saved from luxury condominium development. Check current park status; some facilities continued post-Hurricane-Ian recovery into 2025.
- Walk Barefoot Beach Preserve just south of the city line in Collier County — 342 acres of Collier County park along two miles of natural Gulf shoreline north of Wiggins Pass, with the Saylor Trail boardwalk, gopher tortoise habitat, and quiet dunes.
- Paddle out to Mound Key Archaeological State Park in Estero Bay — the 30-foot Calusa shell mound that was the believed capital of the Calusa chiefdom, just north of Bonita in Estero Bay. Accessible by kayak from Lovers Key or Koreshan State Park.
- Visit Koreshan State Park up the road in Estero — the historic site of Dr. Cyrus Teed's 1894 commune along the Estero River.
- Drive Old 41 from the Liles Hotel north past the Wonder Gardens and the historic downtown blocks to Estero, then up to Fort Myers.
- Drive south on US-41 to Naples (10 minutes), or north to Estero / Fort Myers Beach / Sanibel and Captiva Islands.
