Friesian Mare

Before the European colonial period, the Calusa Indians had dwelt in the region for thousands of years, from Charlotte Harbor to Cape Sable. In 1513, Juan Ponce de León landed in the region and found resistance from the Calusa, which was then followed by nearly 200 years of strife between the Spanish and the Calusa. In the early 1700s, following slaving raids by Uchise Creek and Yamasee Indians allied with the English Province of Carolina, most of the Calusa retreated south and east. The city of Naples was founded during the late 1880s by former Confederate general and Kentucky U.S. Senator John Stuart Williams and his partner, Louisville businessman Walter N.