Did you know? · Naples, Florida
Claws only: Naples fun facts
Things you might not know about Naples, the Everglades and the coast around them. Every fact comes from an official or primary source, named alongside it.
Updated October 2026
Claws only
Florida’s stone crab is a renewable feast: by law only the claws may be taken, the crab is returned to the water, and egg-bearing crabs may not be harvested at all. The recreational season in state waters opens on 15 October and closes at the start of May (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, myfwc.com). Naples celebrates the start of the season each October with the Stone Crab Festival around Tin City, and Everglades City holds its seafood festival in February.
America’s smallest post office
On the Tamiami Trail at Ochopee, east of Naples, a white building of 61.3 square feet is the smallest post office in the United States. It began as a storage shed and became the post office in 1953, after a fire destroyed the earlier post office and general store, and it still sells stamps today (United States Postal Service, facts.usps.com). Stop on the drive to the Everglades: there is just room for the clerk and a customer or two.
A county run from the edge of the Glades
Everglades City was the first county seat of Collier County. From 1923 it was also the base from which the county’s founder, Barron Collier, built his section of the Tamiami Trail across the swamp. The Museum of the Everglades there is housed in a commercial laundry that first opened in 1927, restored to its Collier-era look (Collier County Museums, colliermuseums.com).
The panther in the cypress
The Florida panther, the state animal, is an endangered species. There are approximately 120 to 230 adults in the wild, and the core population lives south of Lake Okeechobee (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, myfwc.com), which puts the forests and cypress swamps east of Naples at the heart of its range. The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge was set up to protect it; most of the refuge is closed to the public (US Fish and Wildlife Service, fws.gov). You are very unlikely to see one, but watch the panther-crossing signs on the roads east of town, especially at dusk.
A house of shell and lime
Palm Cottage, built in 1895 of tabby, a mix of crushed shell and lime, is the oldest house in Naples. It survived the town’s early hurricanes and now belongs to the Naples Historical Society, which opens it for tours a block from the beach (Naples Historical Society, napleshistoricalsociety.org).
Curtain up since 1953
The Naples Players were founded on 19 January 1953 and put on their first play, I Remember Mama, that March, in a building that is now Gulfview Middle School. In 1998 the company opened its own home on Fifth Avenue South, the Sugden Community Theatre, named after the donors Herbert and Peg Sugden (The Naples Players, naplesplayers.org).
The biggest week in pickleball
The US Open Pickleball Championships were first played at East Naples Community Park in 2016. The tenth edition, in April 2026, drew more than 3,750 players from all 50 states and 53 countries and more than 55,000 spectators; the 2027 championships are set for 17 to 24 April (US Open Pickleball Championships, usopenpickleball.com).
An art fair nearly fifty years old
Each February the Naples Art Institute fills Cambier Park with the Naples National Art Fair, a juried show of painting, jewellery, ceramics, sculpture and more. The 48th edition runs from 19 to 21 February 2027, and the fair draws upwards of 20,000 people each year (Naples Art Institute, naplesart.org).
Christmas on the water
Every December the Marine Industries Association of Collier County sends a parade of lit-up boats down Naples Bay, with the proceeds going to charity. The 2026 parade sails on Saturday 19 December; the City Dock is the ticketed grandstand, and Tin City, Naples Landing and Bayview Park are among the places to watch along the bay (Marine Industries Association of Collier County, miacc.org).