Creative History

Located on Florida’s Gulf Coast only a few miles off of Interstate Highway 75 is a place called the Koreshan Historic Site.  The Koreshan Historic Site is part of the Sunshine State’s expansive and sprawling  Koreshan State Park, which is home to much of rural Florida’s flora and fauna and is  a sanctuary for the state’s many unique species of birds and reptiles. The Koreshan Historic Site and State Park are located within the town of Estero.  Estero sits directly in the middle of the Gulf Coast tourist Meccas of Naples to the south and Fort Myers to the north.  Today Estero is home to about 37,000 people and it first became a thriving community in the 1920’s when construction on Interstate Highway 75, linking the cities of Tampa and Miami, was completed. But, built in 1894 approximately three decades prior to the completion of Interstate Highway 75 is Estero’s most famous building-- the Koreshan Historic Site.  What is known today as the Koreshan Histo...

  Some called him a conman, a scoundrel and even a criminal.  He named himself the “King of the Beggars” and published an international bestseller that detailed his exploits as a wandering vagabond who lived on the margins of accepted society.  He claimed it was a one-hundred percent true autobiography.  His detractors said that his work was nothing more than pure fiction.  But one thing is certain--Bampfylde Moore Carew’s literary talents made him one of the 18th century’s most famous (and infamous!) celebrities. To this very day, nearly three hundred years later, the question still remains--Who really was this self-proclaimed “King of the Beggars” Bampfylde Moore Carew?  And is there anything today that we  know about this man that is even remotely true? History doesn’t tell us exactly when Bampfylde Moore Carew was born, but church records tell us that an infant by that name was  baptized on the 23rd of September in the year 1690 at a churc...