When Ted Smallwood arrived on Chokoloskee Island in 1897, he joined five other pioneering families there. He soon saw the need for a place where the settlers could get supplies and trade products they grew or hunted. So the idea for Ted Smallwood’s Store was hatched. Beginning in 1906, the trading post first operated out of Smallwood’s house; the store was eventually built in 1917 at its current location on the shores of Chokoloskee Bay.

So how is it that a former concrete mason from North Dakota would become one of the largest stone-crab purveyors in the world? Jeff Haugland doesn’t really have an answer, besides “dumb luck and a belief that if you work hard enough good things will happen.” It’s the hard work part that’s the most likely reason. Haugland and his wife, Denise, head up the Island Crab Company, a seafood distribution facility located on Pine Island. They take the fresh seafood caught by as many as forty independent Gulf of Mexico fishermen and deliver...

A GROWING AWARENESS

A large part of the charm of Sanibel and Captiva islands is due to the lush, natural vegetation that grows here. And unlike many other vacation resorts, there has been a very determined effort by the islands’ residents to keep it that way. What we have growing on the islands today is the result of a number of factors, some natural and some man-made. The vegetation that grows naturally in a region is mainly a product of the climate, in particular temperature and precipitation. Sanibel and Captiva average more than...

The cover image on the premier issue of Times of the Islands featured a scene from a buccaneer’s ship with a glimpse of the faraway shore of Sanibel Island out the porthole. Although unintended, that scene captured how Friedrich Jaeger felt as a daring new captain when the magazine embarked on its maiden voyage in November of 1996. Skepticism about his chances of success, alongside national statistics that painted...

The slim, dimpled, white platter held six different varieties of salt: vintage merlot, espresso, chipotle, truffle, Spanish rosemary, and garlic. Each, applied by the pinch to my bransino Mediterranean fish, popped a new taste sensation at Sea Salt restaurant in Naples. Call it salt-hopping or salting around, this trend by any name takes the tastebuds out for a spin. Salt, often considered a culprit in the American diet, has nonetheless grown into its own gourmet food group. The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, in Northeast Florida has...